till we're not strangers anymore
by vixevilcat7
Summary: Another view of Scabior. Alternate Universe. Snape, Lavender Brown lives, Greyback lives. Protective/Fatherly Greyback. The Trio and Scabior, eventual pairing of Scabior and Hermione.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue. No money made

Rewritten to reflect the change of story noted in chapter 16 author's note. Also slightly longer than before.

Hermione Granger sat at the Gryffindor table and looked around. The war was over. Voldemort was dead. She, Harry and Ron had come back to take the seventh year of school they'd missed while on the run last year. She looked at the other students and realized a few more had decided to either finish or retake their last year. Malfoy had come back, along with Goyle, Zabini, Flint and Pucey. Parkinson was there along with Bulstrode. It felt so strange to be back. She wished she could be as happy as the others looked. But her world had all but ended the previous night.

She looked toward the head table and saw some new faces mixed in with the old faces. She knew Slughorn had gone back into retirement but it appeared as if several other teachers had also decided to retire. She didn't see Flitwick or Hooch, either. That left the Quidditch, Charms, Potions and Transfiguration positions all open. She could see some new faces, however, so maybe they were already filled.

One of the males spoke to Minerva and turned towards the Gryffindor table. She caught her breath. 'no, it couldn't be! He'd died, hadn't he?' she thought. That's what the news article had said, no survivors. She almost teared up, remembering their last contact. She'd never gotten the chance to tell him she was sorry.

"Who is that man? That,, it isn't,, it isn't,, him,, is it?" Neville looked and his eyes widened. Then they narrowed as he looked carefully at the man. "No, it's not him. But, Hermione, didn't you say his body was never recovered?"

Hermione frowned. "That's what the article said but they never found any of his family." Neville shrugged. "Maybe they got away, then. Only the Death Eaters were found, right? Surely, that means they killed the death eaters, then got themselves out safely?"

Hermione thought it through. Maybe, just maybe, they HAD gotten out safely. But then, why hadn't he let her know? Unless,,, unless he really was so angry at her over that memory that he seriously didn't want any more contact with her at all.

The man, as if aware of being observed, suddenly locked eyes with her. She realized it wasn't the man she'd thought. This one, while looking eerily similiar, had brown eyes, not blue. He did, however, have a red streak of hair, braided down from his left temple. He was possibly related.

She looked away and kept checking out the other students. Now that she thought about it, there were actually a few people here who weren't students anymore but were wearing their house colors and dressed as students. Among them, she could see Oliver Wood, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet. She wondered why they were here. She watched as Professor, um,, Headmistress McGonagall got up and began the welcoming speech.

Ginny was watching the teachers. Suddenly she elbowed Harry and pointed. The dark haired man was still watching Hermione. Harry gasped, then looked at Hermione and scowled. He turned and spoke quietly to Ron and Ginny. "I think that's Mikey's dad." Ginny looked at the teachers again. There was now a blond man there. She told Harry, who sneaked a peek. He swore. "That's probably Alex's dad. They have to be. They look too much like them not to be. Why the bloody hell are they HERE?"

"I don't know but it seems like they know Professor Snape. That's the first time I can remember ever seeing that man smile." Ginny said thoughtfully.

"Attention, everyone, we are waiting on a couple more people, then we will continue the welcoming feast." said the headmistress.

Hermione's eyes narrowed. So something was going to happen. That's why grades fifth year and lower had been sent on to the dormitories already. Suddenly the doors to the Great Hall opened, admitting two young men.

One was tall, blond and built like an athlete. He was also familiar to quite a few of the students as evinced by the number of gasps heard when he passed the tables. If he heard the whispers, he gave no clue of it. The brunette, on the other hand, smiled and blew kisses as he strutted down the aisle, swaying slightly. Hermione's eyes widened and she gasped for air. The girl seated next to her, Victoria Samms, put a hand on her shoulder. "Hermione are you ok? Breathe, sweetie, just breathe." She sent a glare at the two young men.

It seemed as though the positions of the house tables changed every year and this year was no exception. Hermione wondered at the wisdom of putting Slytherin and Gryffindor so close. As she watched the newcomers, she realized they would walk right by her. There was a subtle glow that passed over the young men and the clothes they had on began to change. The blond's all black leather outfit changed to a student uniform, right down to the Slytherin tie. The brunettes black vest, shirt and jacket faded as did his black plaid pants and combat boots, also replaced by a student uniform, again complete with a Slytherin tie. The blond suddenly spotted her and elbowed the brunette.

He looked down at her with those beautiful blue eyes and said softly, "Hello beautiful." She silently stared back at him. Harry and Ron were watching him closely.

The blond looked up and stopped abruptly. He grabbed the brunette's arm and pointed. The brunette looked away from her and looked up front. His face seemed to pale. He started breathing heavily.

"Alex," he said softly, almost whispering. "What's my father doing here? Is that your father? What's he doing here? Why,,, why are they dressed like teachers?" the blond, Alex, was slowly shaking his head. "I don't know, mate" he said.

He took a step backward, like he was actually going to run out. His wand dropped to the floor. He stared at it. Then he noticed he was dressed differently. His eyes widened and looked at Alex. He pointed at Alex, then himself. "Al,,,Al,,,Alex, what,,how,,mate,,they,,bloody hell,,bloody hell, man!"

Alex grabbed him. "Mikey, mate, calm down, calm down! What's wrong"? Ginny was watching the three teachers. They were biting their lips. It looked as though all three were barely suppressing their laughter.

At this point, the young man, Mikey, was hyperventilating. Alex pushed him down on the nearest bench. He sat himself down on the bench, facing Mikey. Mikey ran his hands through his hair. The Great Hall was quiet. Everyone was waiting to hear his response.

"Bloody hell, Alex, they've sent us back to school, mate! They've sent us back to school! Blimey, I barely passed the first time we were here"! He practically screamed.

That was when Snape, the blond and the brunette just lost it. All three of them burst out laughing, practically falling down. Mikey either didn't notice or was ignoring them. Alex looked as if he wasn't sure what to do at this point, so he discreetly hit him with a nonverbal stunner. Two women, again blond and brunette, walked out on the stage from a side door and noticed the three men laughing. "Oh, no, what have they done?" they asked McGonagall, laughing lightly. McGonagall had her napkin over her mouth and her shoulders were shaking.

"Not them, the boys," she gasped. "Michael was having hysterics because we've sent him and Alex back to school. Alex had to stun him."

"Well, they didn't do their seventh year and I, for one, would like to watch my son graduate. I know Renee would, as well. Besides, this isn't going to be just their seventh year, is it?" Pandora said.

"Mike, darling, aren't you going to check on our son? He appears to have been stunned." she smiled sweetly.

Mike returned her smile, "yes, dear."

He swiftly strolled down to his unconscious son. With a quickness that spoke of experience, he examined Michael. He sat down with Alex and they both stared toward the hand Michael had quickly shoved into his pocket.

"He never shows that hand, does he?"? Alex shook his head sadly. "He also never rolls up his left sleeve."

"Reckon he realized that you sat him down at Gryffindor's table, beside her?" he nodded towards Hermione. Alex shook his head. "No, I really don't think he noticed anything, except being turned back into a student."

He turned his head and looked at Hermione. Up close, she could clearly see where most of Michael's features came from. Only the eyes were different. He smiled at her. "Please be good to my boy, he's already suffered too much."

He stood and strode back up to the stage. Now, the students noticed a new person standing there, the minister of magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt. Whatever was going on, it was a serious enough matter to worry the ministry. He stood at the podium and waited until he had everyone's attention.

"Good evening, students, I'm here to make a very important announcement, unwelcome but important." he watched as the students stirred uneasily. "There has been a law passed, one I am in total disagreement with but I was unable to overturn it."

Dora leaned towards Mike. "Better wake him up, dear, you wouldn't want to miss his reaction to this announcement". Mike soundlessly revived Mikey. He stirred and opened his eyes in time to hear "marriage law".

"What?!" he screamed angrily. Mike, the blond and Severus burst out laughing again. "Bloody hell, man, are you nuts?!"

Kingsley just kept from bursting out laughing himself. "Exactly what I screamed at the Wizengamot a few short hours ago. I cursed, I fought, I argued myself blue in the face but it did no good. They overrode my objections and passed the law anyway. Believe me, I hate it as much as you do. I'm also subject to the law, just the same as all of you. I, too, have to find a bride and marry."

"Bloody hell" Ron whispered. "If the minister can't even get himself out of it, we sure can't."

The stool used for the Sorting Ceremony had been left out. Now they knew why.

Harry and Ginny clasped hands as McGonagall prepared to yell the first name.

"Kingsley Shackebolt" the students gasped. He hadn't been lying to them. They waited with bated breath to see who matched with their beloved minister. "Amelia Thompson" the sorting hat yelled.

A beautiful young woman rose from the Ravenclaw table and made her way to Shacklebolt.

"Severus Snape" the second name shocked them even more. Who would be his match? "Andromeda Tonks" was their prompt answer as the sorting hat yelled again. Andromeda rose from the Slytherin table and joined Snape on the stage.

"Aidan Pucey". McGonagall looked up from her list briefly. Millicent Bulstrode was the sorting hat's match for him.

Marcus Flint was quickly paired with Angelina Johnson

Oliver Wood was paired up with Alicia Spinnet.

"Alex McKeon" At this point, Alex closed his eyes, took a deep breath and silently prayed. He looked at Victoria Samms and blew her a kiss. Then he stood up, smiled a cocky grin and went to the stool. His silent wish was granted, it seemed, because as soon as the sorting hat yelled "Victoria Samms," he let out a joyous whoop.

Mikey was the last of the former students. Once he was matched, it would be all current students. Harry, Ron and Hermione all held their breath.

"Michael Scabior" he'd been sitting with his head laid on the table and his eyes closed, as if blocking the whole ordeal out, but he couldn't ignore it anymore. If he noticed he was rising from Gryffindor's table, he gave absolutely no sign of it. He was now in the line of fire. He slowly walked to the stool. All eyes were on Scabior as he silently sat down on the stool. Aside from his first angry outburst, the boy hadn't let out another sound. Just before the sorting hat yelled out his match, the young man locked eyes with Hermione. "Hermione Granger"

Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus and Ginny were all yelling objections. They knew what had gone on between the two during the battle as well as the weeks leading up to it. Hermione was in shock. Did the hat know or had it realized her hidden feelings for the former young snatcher? She rose and walked to the stage. She stepped up and took the hand he offered. They went to sit by the other matched couples.

Draco Malfoy was the first current student called. He was paired up with Padma Patil.

Ronald Weasley was matched with Parvati Patil. Both boys looked green at the thought of being brothers in law.

Neville Longbottom was with Pansy Parkinson. Poor Neville looked as though he was ready to Avada himself.

Gregory Goyle was matched with Luna Lovegood.

Blaise Zabini was paired with Katie Bell.

"Harry Potter". Harry stood and walked to the front. "Ginny Weasley"

Harry sagged with relief.

"Seamus Finnegan" Seamus walked up to the stool. "Lavender Brown" Seamus smiled broadly, jumped off the stool, ran to Lavender and threw his arms around her. She was laughing happily.

There was one last name of the list and it absolutely shocked everyone. Why his name had ended up on the list, nobody was quite sure, but it wouldn't be as shocking as who he was paired with, it seemed.

"Argus Filch" McGonagall's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She looked at Shacklebolt as if asking if it was a mistake. Shacklebolt shrugged and raised his hands, palm up.

Meanwhile, Filch's jaw had dropped. His eyes widened. He pointed at himself. She nodded and motioned him forward. He shuffled forward and sat down awkwardly on the stool. The sorting hat was placed on his head. Everyone waited with bated breath.

"Dolores Umbridge!"

It was so silent you could have heard a coin drop, then echoing the thoughts of everyone in the Great Hall came the unmistakable voice of Mikey Scabior.

"OH, BLOODY HELL!"

As one, everyone burst out laughing again. It quickly died as the door opened once more, admitting the pink clad Ministry worker. She walked down to the stage as if she'd never been ignominiously ejected from the school a few years earlier. She stood before Filch as he stared in total shock. He was clutching Mrs. Norris tightly enough that she was squirming to escape. Umbridge reached towards her and she hissed. Apparently, even Mrs. Norris didn't like Umbridge.

After making sure the list had been thoroughly executed, Kingsley stood in a group with McGonagall and the other teachers. The students drifted back down to their tables.

Just then, a few of the morning owls came streaming in. Ron's owl, Pig, brought Hermione the morning edition of the Daily Prophet.

_Missing heirs are back! _

_Today was a special day as heirs Michael Scabior and Alex McKeon came back to the public eye after disappearing abruptly slightly over three months earlier at the Battle of Hogwarts. They showed up at the Ministry of Magic and went straight to the office of the new Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, to turn in themselves and their paperwork for the past ten months. Ordinarily, they would have been thrown into a cell to await trail. It seems, though, when the minister went through their papers, he couldn't find a single illegal arrest. Every person they'd caught had been legitimately wanted. Therefore he was pleased to announce they wouldn't be arrested, but they would have to do community service. Since they were basically on parole, they were each fitted with ankle brace, it would track them everywhere and alert the ministry should they try to apparate out of the country._

_When asked where they had been, the boys answered quite cheekily, "Vacation, what's it to ya, ya old bat?"_

_When asked if they knew Fenrir Greyback had been imprisoned on suspicion of their murders, they burst out laughing, "That won't last long." They declared. More to come._

Hermione steed incredulously at the paper. Then at Pig. "You couldn't have brought the paper thirty minutes ago?" she asked incredulously. Pig chirped at her. A hand reached across from the Slytherin table. It was Mikey, taking her left hand in his right hand. There was no expression on his face as he stared at the ring on her finger. He looked up at her. She was astonished at the carefully controlled rage in his eyes.

"Got over your little snit or just as narrow minded as you were before?" he asked, with a slight curl of his lip. Harry and Ginny grabbed their wands but Hermione waved them back. He actually had the right to ask her that. She needed to apologize and he'd just handed her the golden opportunity.

"I'm sorry for what I said on the train that day. I had no basis whatsoever for that accusation. All I can say is, I was already upset before you and I ever spoke. When you tried to explain your training, I completely and utterly took it the wrong way, based solely on appearances. I knew you'd never joined in on the fighting between our two houses but it flew tight out of my mind and old hurts opened up. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." She told him, gently clasping his hand in both of hers.

She watched as the rage slowly calmed down to wariness. It would obviously take her a while to regain his trust but she was determined to stick the course, no matter what.


	2. one year ago

ONE YEAR AGO

(SCABIOR)

Ministry workers and reporters were both gathered in the lobby of the Ministery of magic. They were gathered to hear a statement from the new minister, Pious Thicknesse. He stood confidently facing the crowd, his top advisors standing in front of him. They were Alfred Rucorn, Dolores Umbridge and Yaxley.

As the minister spoke to the crowd, there was a ripple in the audience. It was a group of men. One was clearly a prisoner and had obviously put up a fight. The rest were captors. Shivers were quickly suppressed as Fenrir Greyback was revealed to be in the crowd.

Evidently the group was comfortable with Greyback as a member or they were all werewolves. Either way, they casually strolled through the audience like it was no big deal. The leader must have realized they had interrupted something because he stopped and bowed to the minister. He inclined his head and they headed to the elevators.

The female workers couldn't help but notice how attractive the leader was. Slim and dark haired, he presented a compelling picture. Even Umbridge was taking note of the young man. His hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, except for one bright red strand, braided down from his left temple. His blue eyes were lined with kohl which made them appear darker. He stood at six feet and was the tallest of his group, aside from Greyback. He wore a black vest with military style double buttons and black plaid pants. Over this, he wore a brown leather waistcoat. Lastly, he wore a black duster and black combat boots. A holstered belt, red ribbon on the left bicep and a black fingerless glove completed his outfit.

His name was Scabior. Trained as an Auror and sprung from a very brief stay in Azkaban, he was now one of three leaders, chosen to head his own group of snatchers. He was the best tracker the ministry had. He enjoyed his job most of the time but the closer it got to the full moon each month, the more agitated he got. Seeing as how his choices had been a continued stay in Azkaban or capturing people for the ministry, he had jumped at the chance to lead a group. Being a snatcher also took advantage of the one trait he figured was his most useful: his ability to track down anyone.

He tried to avoid bringing in former coworkers, people who had actually helped train him. He preferred to go after the younger ones, the truants and muggle borns. They had the highest bounties and he didn't have to worry about how often he needed to work. If he happened across a former coworker being hunted, he'd give them a heads up and look the other way. With some of the dim bulbs in his group, this wasn't very hard to do. More often than not, he'd be sent a gift for the warning. Sometimes, it would be money or food along with a tipoff as to the trail of an actual wanted criminal. One memorable time, it had been a tipoff plus season tickets in the minister's box for the whole quidditch season. Today was different. All Yaxley handed him was three wanted posters.

"Continue your regular hunting but keep a sharp eye, ear and nose out for these three. They're special." Yaxley told him.

"Special how?" Scabior asked curiously.

"Need to know basis and you don't need to know. Keep your eyes peeled and your nose clean, stay out of Azkaban and do your job!" snapped Yaxley.

Scabior barely restrained an angry snarl, wanting so badly to rip Yaxley's throat out. His crew backed up warily. He had a hair trigger temper and it was legendary in the Auror's department. Every new recruit brought in was told a few simple rules. Rule one: 'Never piss off Scabior. That's your first and last mistake.' Only one recruit had ever ignored the rule, which promptly led to Scabior's brief stint in Azkaban.

He was getting too edgy. He had to get out of here before he did something stupid,,,again. The full moon was only five days away. He could feel himself getting wilder, losing control of himself a little more each day. He closed his eyes and tried to occulate as Severus had shown him, push his anger away and calm down. Greyback watched the boy intently. It wouldn't do for the pup to lose his temper and kill his boss. Not yet anyway, there was still too much to do. 'Soon, pup, I promise you,,, soon you can have him,, just not yet.' Right now, he had to get the boy away before he became uncontrollable.

Scabior was exhausted from the hunt. He just wanted to go home, climb into bed with a bottle of fire whiskey and drink her out of his mind.

(HERMIONE)

Hermione Granger sighed. How many more times did they have to turn over Grimmauld Place before Harry would admit the locket wasn't there anymore. Nor were there any more Horcruxes to be found. After Ron had discovered the identity of R.A.B., Kreacher had been questioned. He had pretended ignorance about the locket. They needed to speak to Kreacher again but she was dreading it. It was one thing to be called a "filthy mudblood" by purebloods and another to have a house elf call her that. They cornered Kreacher in the kitchen. He reluctantly revealed that Mundungus Fletcher had stolen the locket, along with other valuables and family heirlooms. He was ordered to bring Fletcher back. They needed that locket. The thief had been brought back and questioned, only to tell them he no longer had the locket. He'd been forced to practically give it away, to a witch. They were properly horrified when Dung pointed her out to them in the Prophet. It was Dolores Umbridge.

Now they had come up with a crazy plan. They were going to break into the Ministry of Magic,, again. This time, though, there would only be three of them against everyone including Aurors, during the day. Last time, it had been six against a handful of Death Eaters, at night. They had decided to grab three ministry workers, Polyjuice into them and try to search Umbridge's office. They were taking turns, under Harry's cloak, to watch the ministry to decide which three people went in, stayed the longest and came back out.

Ron was listening to the wireless. The lists of captured witches and wizards were growing longer daily. Hermione knew why he listened to the radio constantly. In addition to captures, they also listed deaths and disappearances. The radio talked about the new gangs forming. They were called Snatchers and they were former Azkaban inmates as well as former Aurors. The radio kept score of which Snatcher group brought in the most captives. There seemed to be about three different groups but two names came up side by side every day. Scabior and McKeon. No other names were credited to them. They were outdoors trackers. Hermione hoped to stay as far away from them as possible.

It was Hermione's turn under the cloak today. She watched her target sit on a bench, lay her papers and belongings down and remove her shoes. The man they had determined as Harry's target came up to her and spoke sharply. She put her shoes back on and gathered her belongings to go on in. before she could stop her self, Hermione darted over and gathered up the papers she'd left. She had been grabbing Prophets and Witch Weeklys for a while now. She didn't let on to Harry or Ron but she'd developed a slight interest in the career of Scabior. He'd been a Hogwarts student, she remembered him, now he worked for Voldemort.

Later, after she was sure the boys were out for the night, she finally slipped down to the kitchen and read the papers. She learned that she, Harry and Ron were all wanted. Undesirables nos one, two and three. Harry was to be taken immiediately to Voldemort, Ron was simply to be used as leverage against Harry and she,,, she dropped the paper. She could be brought in dead or alive. She was of no particular value, being a Mudblood. The only value she seemed to rate was being the reward of whoever captured her. They would be allowed to keep her as a pet.

Interviews with various Aurors, past and present, all agreed with the reasoning behind her bounty. She knew Muggle borns were looked down but she hadn't realized they were valued as practically worthless. Only one ex Auror disagreed with the article and that was, surprisingly, the one named Snatcher, Scabior. He stated he wouldn't mind capturing the Trio. He wouldn't even mind turning Harry and Ron in. The part he disagreed with was parting with Hermione. "I need me a pretty little plaything and she'd fit perfectly, until I got bored with her. Then I'd just kill her and go after another little pretty." Hermione gasped angrily when she realized what he meant. "Oh, as if!" she spat furiously at the paper.

The next paper was the Witch Weekly. The Prophet hadn't had a picture of the Snatcher but the Witch Weekly did. He was as handsome as she remembered. Dark hair pulled back, blue eyes twinkling, with a cocky grin on his face. He and McKeon had evidently just come from a hunt. They each held a bottle of fire whiskey up in a toast. In the background, Greyback was smiling and shaking his head at them. They must be co-leaders of their group. The paper listed them as cousins, she remembered that from Hogwarts as well.

She wondered how long he'd been a werewolf. It couldn't be too long. He hadn't had lycanthropy when she knew him. The Witch Weekly article was part two of a two part interview. She found her bag, dug through the papers she had and found both the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly had printed a two part article about them.

Witch Weekly had the article of how the boys were turned. They had left Hogwarts after their sixth year and gone right into an accelerated Auror training program headed by none other than Mad Eye Moody. They had successfully completed their training and had been licensed as Aurors for only one week. They'd gone to a tavern with a group of older Aurors to celebrate that and the boys' eighteenth birthdays. Hermione's eyes widened with shock. The werewolves waited until shortly before closing time before they launched their attack. Twenty five citizens had been bitten. Out of a group of twenty Aurors, seven of them were also bitten. Scabior and McKeon were among the bitten. They were treated at St. Mungo's and released. They were fired from the Auror's department and disappeared shortly afterwards.

The Daily Prophet had the story of them taking the Dark Mark. Having her suspicions unvoiced was one thing. Having them confirmed in black and white was another. The Prophet sent an interviewer to Malfoy Manor. Pictures had been taken. Voldemort stood between the Malfoys with Nagini around his shoulders and Draco directly in front of him. The Malfoys were expressionless. Draco's expression was pure terror. He looked on the verge of passing out. The next picture astonished her. It was Professor Snape, with Scabior and McKeon.

As she went from picture to picture, she realized that Voldemort had completely documented their Marking. The next picture showed both boys passed out in large silver cages. Fenrir Greyback was pacing between the two cages looking,,, worried? She wondered why. She found out in the next two pictures. Voldemort had both boys under the Crucio. They were in their transformed state. The last two pictures were of Voldemort, marking the wolves after they passed out from the pain. Hermione cried for a few minutes before she was able to continue reading the article.

Voldemort wanted to meet the two boys responsible for keeping the cells of Azkaban filled to the brim. Snape was ordered to make a special Wolfsbane Potion. The boys were brought in, given the potion and passed out before they realized anything was going on. He toyed with them for quite a while, seeming to enjoy their howls of pain. Fenrir flinched so violently that he had to leave the room until the howls finally turned to whimpers. The he came back to comfort his boys. Snape looked sickened by the part he'd had in the ordeal. Then Voldemort branded each wolf as they lay limp from the pain. They dared not resist for fear of the Crucio again. The reporter was ordered to lay the articles out on the front page of both Witch Weekly and the Daily Prophet.

'Oh, my god' thought Hermione, 'they didn't take the Mark willingly, they were forced into his service!' she thought back to that last meeting. The Auror training! That's what he was trying to tell her! She felt so stupid, how she wished she knew where he was. She wished there was some way for her to apologize and make it up to him. She took the papers to the room she and Ginny shared and fell asleep, crying, dreaming of a blue eyed, dark haired boy with a bright red braid.


	3. the hunt begins

Title of the story is inspired by one of my favorite songs from Bon Jovi.

No money made from the story. Alex McKeon is my OC, as well as Victoria Sams. Everything else belongs to the awesome J. K. Rowling 😏

The Hunt Begins

(Hermione)

The next day, Harry, Ron and Hermione put their plan into action. They grabbed their targets and Polyjuiced into them. Inside the Ministry, things started unraveling almost immediately. They only had an hour, if that long, before the Polyjuice wore off. They were separated almost as soon as they hit the lobby. Hermione had grabbed Umbridge's personal assistant, Ron had grabbed a maintenance worker and Harry had grabbed an intimidater, from the way people acted when he spoke to them.

After unsuccessfully searching the office of Umbridge, he concluded that she must have the locket with her. He headed out to go down stairs. He ran into Ron, who didn't recognize him at first, and told him they needed to find Hermione and Umbridge.

They went to the courtroom where Umbridge was interviewing Muggle-born witches and wizards. As Harry stunned Umbridge, Hermione grabbed the locket and they fled towards the elevator, once they were almost to the lobby, they realized the Polyjuice potion was wearing off. They tried to unobtrusively move through the lobby but were recognized halfway back to the Apparation point. The fight was on. They made it to a flue and Apparated but at the last minute, Yaxley caught up with them. He latched onto Ron and Hermione had to Apparate them away from Grimmald Place. They landed in the woods where she discovered Ron had gotten splinched. She began healing Ron and told Harry to set up the tent. She put up wards around the area to keep them safe and hidden.

She tried not to let the boys see but she was terrified. Before, they had walls to hide behind. Now, Grimmauld Place was lost to them. They were in HIS territory now. Here, outside, in the woods, was where Scabior did his best hunting at. Now, they were at his mercy.

(Scabior)

Back at the Ministry, Yaxley was raising hell and throwing demotions, left and right. Nobody dared to point out that he was the one the Trio escaped from. Nobody fancied a trip to the morgue or Azkaban that badly. Äs he finally calmed down, he heard a whoosh behind him. He turned in time to catch Scabior growling and snarling angrily. A second whoosh announced the arrival of McKeon, in a slightly better mood than his cousin. Yaxley stepped back warily. The young werewolf hadn't been asleep long and didn't appreciate being dragged back to work so soon.

"Scabior! There you are, how do you fancy a special reward? Undesirables one, two and three were here. See if you can catch a scent. If you can't here, I know where they've been hiding now. I can take you there, as well. You do know, don't you, that whoever catches them, gets to keep the Mudblood, right?" Yaxley smiled warily at the boy. He'd read his interview and knew the boy would love to catch the girl, if nothing else. He had to get the boy interested and in a good mood. In four more days, the boy wouldn't be available for a day or so. He had to help him catch the scent now or they'd lose them again.

McKeon watched, amused, as Yaxley tried to bribe his cousin into a good mood. He didn't offer to try and sniff out the Trio himself. He knew, if there was even the smallest chance of scenting them, Scabior would jump at it. He wanted the girl badly. Baring his teeth at Yaxley, he allowed himself to be led everywhere the Trio had been sighted in the Ministry. He shook his head. Too many different scents were here.

Yaxley then Apparated himself, Scabior, and McKeon to Grimmauld Place. They surprised a house elf in the kitchen and made him show them which rooms the boys and girl had used. He picked up Harry and Ron immediately, wrinkling his nose. In Hermione's room was where he stayed the longest. He picked up books, quills and even parchment with scribbling on it. Everything he touched smelled of strawberries. In the bathroom, the scent was even stronger. Yaxley and McKeon watched, smiling, from the bedroom door. Neither of them ventured any further into the room than was necessary. This was Scabior's territory now. He turned and nodded. He had the scent he wanted. She was his now, she just didn't know it yet. Better yet, now she was finally of age. He wouldn't have to tiptoe around her anymore.

(Hermione)

They finally had the campsite set up and warded. Ron was taken in and settled. They were all exhausted. It was decided that they would start fresh in the morning.

Looking back, Hermione could see where she and Harry shouldn't have been surprised by Ron running out on them. True, he came back but the fact remained, he did leave them for a while.

The next morning began the hard journey to realizing that, of all the spells, hexes and jinxes she and Harry had between them, not a one was even beginning to affect the Horcrux. It was still as bright and shiny that evening as it had been that morning.

That night, Harry and Ron listened to the radio and Hermione took first watch. She was sitting at the fire when she thought she heard something. She got up and slowly walked away from the fire. She moved closer to the edge of where her wards ended. It must have been just an animal, she thought.

As she began to turn, she heard twigs snapping. She looked back and saw a group of men walking towards her. One of them was Fenir Greyback. She paled. He had a young witch thrown across his shoulders. Another one had a wizard slung across his shoulder. They walked straight past her. She let out a silent gasp of surprise. Bringing up the rear was Scabior. She closed her eyes and silently cursed. Of all the groups to run into, the first night in the woods!

"What's that?" he suddenly looked up and asked. He stopped and raised a hand. The group stopped as one and looked at him. He slowly sniffed again. 'where did he know that scent.' He turned and backtracked the scent until he could smell it clearly. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. 'Strawberries?' Suddenly his eyes flew open as he realized who it was. "What's that,,smell?"

Hermione was terrified. She recognized her Slytherin from school but at the same time she could see changes. He was taller than she remembered and slightly more filled out, it seemed, she couldn't really tell with the heavy jacket he was wearing. His kohl rimmed eyes looked darker than normal. His hair was loosely hanging, half out of its binder. She could see the red streak of hair neatly braided, though.

There was a thump as a snatcher dropped the male wizard on the ground. Scabior glanced around, "What you doing?"

"It's heavy. "The guy complained.

"Oh, you want me to carry it?" he crooned.

"Yeah, thanks",, the man said.

"Don't be ridiculous. Pick it up!" he snarled.

The male hastily picked the body back up. Scabior snorted at him."Numpty." He chuckled. . He turned for one last look. He knew she was there because the scent was still strong. He waited until the men were out of sight and hearing range before he spoke again, softly "Come on out, sweetheart. I know you're here. Give up now and I won't even look for your little boyfriends." He waited. She stared at him, mesmerized. "No? Then I hope you're untouched, doll. That's my territory. If I find out you've been touched, I'll kill the one who touched you, Potter or Weasley, Dark Lord be damned." He waited again. By this time, Hermione was shivering with fear as she realized what he was talking about. He was determined to be her first time. He realized she wasn't giving in that easily and smiled. He was going to enjoy this chase.

"Got you now, darling. No escape. See you soon, Mudblood." He whispered and smiled wickedly. Then he left.

Hermione breathed easier, then gasped again as Harry spoke from behind her. "Snatchers. Good to know your enchantments work. Do you know which one he was?"

Hermione nodded. "That, Harry, was Scabior. He could smell my perfume."

Harry hugged her. He could see the encounter with the Snatcher had left her in a state of panic. He had heard the Snatcher talking but didn't get there in time to hear what he'd said. Judging from how badly Hermione was shaking, though, he wasn't sure he even wanted to know.


	4. chatpter 4

No money made. Alex McKeon is my OC. Everything else belongs to Rowlings. Enjoy.

(Hermione)

Harry and Hermione walked back to camp. Try as he might, Harry couldn't get her to tell him what the Snatcher had said. She just kept saying it was nothing to worry about.

Ron was standing at the entrance, watching them walk towards him.

Harry was arguing that they needed to leave.

"Ron's not strong enough to Apparate yet, Harry." She said.

"Well, then we'll walk. But we need to leave. And next time, much as I love your perfume, just don't wear any, all right?" Harry sighed.

After another fruitless day of trying, again, every spell they knew, Harry picked up the locket and again put it on for safekeeping, they packed up, consulted their map, and picked a direction directly opposite of the one the Snatchers had come from. Right before they left, Ron looked at Harry.

"Weird" he said. "Dumbledore sends you on this trip but doesn't tell you what you're looking for, where it's at or even how to destroy it. Don't you think that's weird?"

Harry closed his eyes, ran his fingers through his hair, and walked away with no answer for Ron. Hermione shook her head at Ron. Harry had enough to worry about. He didn't need to add doubting the motives of Dumbledore to his list. Hermione silently considered the Dumbledore factor, herself. Ron was actually right, in a way. It really didn't make sense to send a teenage boy out on a trip like this with no information at all.

They walked for miles a day, the first week. They avoided towns when they could. When the food began running low, though, they had to start scavenging for supplies. Harry was still having problems closing his mind to break the connection with Voldemort. He didn't seem to want to, either. He could tell Voldemort was after something, he said, and this way he could see what it was. After he started snapping at both her and Ron for no reason, she made him take the locket off.

"What are you doing, Hermione?" Harry was confused as she put the locket on.

"We'll take turns wearing it." She said. Harry nodded reluctantly.

Hermione still took Daily Prophets and Witch Weeklys whenever she could find them. The number of captures and deaths seemed to grow longer every week. Still side by side were the two cousins with their number of captures.

She started noticing a pattern. Not to where they hunted, how many they brought back dead or alive, or even how much they were paid per bounty. They only brought in Muggle borns. There was never a half blood, blood traitor, or even former coworkers who refused to follow Voldemort. No. The only names they were ever credited with were the names of Muggle born witches and wizards, people like her. Maybe she should have let him capture her, that night. Harry and Ron would be safe then. But then she remembered that his wasn't the only group out there.

When she wasn't researching Horcuxes, she spent her time thinking, about him and his cousin. They were only eighteen when they were bitten, barely more than children. Now they were experienced hunters, from the sounds of the articles. They were rising stars in the Inner Circle. Voldemort, himself, was quoted as calling them "my favorite pets." Pets! It saddened her to realize the promise of a bright future had been stolen from them. If Voldemort's side won, they would be still assured a bright future. If he lost, they were facing the promise of Azkaban for the rest of their lives.

The tension in their own little group was gradually increasing and she wasn't sure how to handle it. She could see how the strain of the locket, not blocking out Voldemort and not knowing how they were going to destroy the Horcrux was wearing down on Harry. Ron was not helping matters by complaining every time they went to a new place or it was his turn to wear the locket.

Their food supply was completely gone now. They were having to go scavenge every day. They camped out near a far for a couple of weeks. They would take the Invisibility Cloak and take milk off the stoop and take eggs from the chicken house. They dared not do more than that but either Harry or Hermione was always quick to leave money in place of the milk and eggs.

Harry had mentioned, at the first of the trip, the possibility of going to Godric's Hollow. Hermione had gently shot the idea down as being a possible trap set for Harry. She was giving Harry a haircut one night and suddenly realized why Dumbledore had left the Sword of Gryfindor to Harry. As she found the book and was reading the passage to Harry, the lights went dark. When they came back, Ron was stading there, staring at them.

"Sword was stolen, wasn't it?" he said mockingly. "Yeah, I'm still here."

So began the angry row that sent Ron away from them. Hermione was stunned, She ran after Ron to try and get him to come back. It was too late. By the time she reached the edge of the wards, Ron had gone through the wards and Diapparated. She stayed outside for hours, it seemed, yelling for him. She came back to the tent and looked at Harry. He put his arms around her and held her tightly, aware that she could easily have left with Ron. It was obvious that Ron had fully expected her to go with him.

The next morning she made the mistake that would change their world in a few short weeks. She took her favorite pink scarf and wrapped it around a tree at the edge of their camp, in the hope that Ron would see it and wait for them there.

(Scabior)

Scabior didn't sleep much. It was a known fact among his men. It usually took three or four bottles of fire whiskey to knock him out. Otherwise, he had nightmares of two different night, the night he and McKeon were turned and the night they were Marked.

(flashback starts)

They had gone out drinking, they were going to be eighteen and they were Aurors. The other Aurors declared them to be the guests of honor and wouldn't hear of them buying their own drinks. They had the bartender's wife bake a huge birthday cake and they had a huge big blowout for the boys. As the party was winding down, there were suddenly werewolves and a couple of Death Eaters there.

The Aurors were pretty well holding off the Weres until a patron jumped up and into the line of fire at the wrong time. He promptly died and the other patrons panicked. That's when all hell broke loose. Everyone was fighting for their lives. He and McKeon were fighting back to back, the way they always had when they were facing more than two attackers. They were ripped apart. He looked back. A Were had hold of his cousin. He was still holding his own, though. Scabior turned back to his attacker. He made short work of him and turned back to McKeon.

To his horror, McKeon was down with a red stain growing under his left side. One Were was down, but the Were standing over him was who concerned Scabior. It was Fenrir Greyback. He turned around and began stalking Scabior. Scabior shot hexes at him while trying to protect himself from other hexes. He was hit with a Blood Boiling curse. As he fell, he realized he was probably going to die tonight. Fenrir Greyback leapt at him. The last thing Scabior remembered was the pain of feeling Greyback latching onto his left hand.

After waking up in St. Mungo's, the boys went to work, only to realize they were being blamed for the attack. Out of the twenty Aurors that night, seven had been bitten, ironically all of them had been in Slytherin house at Hogwarts. They barely managed to stay out of Azkaban.

The night they were invited to Malfoy Manor should have been a huge tipoff that something bad was going to happen. The Malfoys were known supporters of Voldemort. They didn't consider that Voldemort would actually put in a personal appearance. They were there because Severus Snape, their uncle, wanted to see them. Voldemort had planned it carefully.

The Ministry of Magic had just fallen and he had Yaxley in charge of the Aurors department. These two boys were all Yaxley had been raving about for weeks. They were excellent trackers and were filling up Azkaban with Muggle borns as fast as Yaxley was emptying ex inmates out for the Snatcher gangs. When Voldemort heard their names, he realized he finally had a chance to get them on his side, if not their families.

A reporter who wrote for both the Daily prophet and Witch Weekly was also invited to the Manor. The Malfoys and Voldemort were in one picture and the boys were in another picture with Snape. They had just begun taking the Wolfsbane Potion that Snape also provided for Greyback. This was the last night of the Potion and Voldemort had ordered Snape to add a sedative to it.

The boys took their potions and passed out. They were placed into two large silver cages in the path of the full moon. When they transformed, Voldemort made his move. He began using the Crucio on the boys. Trapped in the silver cages, they were helpless to do anything but howl in pain. Greyback couldn't take the sounds of 'his boys' in pain. He left. After the howls had quietened down to whimpers, he came back. Voldemort beckoned both wolves to him. Fearful of being hit with the crucio again, they crawled over to him. He took first a white paw, then a brown paw and branded the Dark Mark onto both wolves. He then told the reporter she'd better make it a priority tohave both stories and pictures on the front page for all the world to see.

(flashback over)

They were patrolling along a river the next day. For months, Scabior had been trying to catch a scent trail of his girl. She and those boys seemed to have vanished into thin air. That was alright, though. In the meantime, he and McKeon still had plenty of names left on their lists. He and his cousin were discussing what would happen when, not if, they finally caught the Trio. He thought there might be something to why they were out here. He knew they weren't just randomly running around. If that were the case, they would have left the country, knowing they were wanted by Voldemort.

"So when we catch them, we turn them in or not?" McKeon asked.

"No, first we find out what the bloody hell they're up to. Then we talk to Greyback, see what he says. Then we decide if we turn them in or not." Scabior said. He was absently scanning the trees as they walked along. Suddenly he stopped and bounded up a small bank. McKeon ran up behind him.

"what's that?" he asked curiously. His cousin was staring at a tree. More specifically, he was staring at a pink scarf tied around the tree. He slowly reached out and took hold of the end of it. He buried his face in the soft material and breathed in strawberries. He lifted his face and started laughing.

"She was here, mate, she was right here. We're close." He removed the scarf from the tree and wrapped it around his neck. They would set up base camp a mile down the beach.


	5. face from the past

No money made.

They finally meet. Hermione meets a face from her past.

(Hermione)

After they found a new campsite, Harry put up the tent and wards as Hermione sat in tears. She didn't even know why she was crying. It had become increasingly obvious in the past few weeks that Ron was getting angry with the Horcrux hunt. He didn't like wearing the locket, he didn't like not being able to destroy it and he evidently didn't like how close the search was bringing Harry and Hermione.

Now that he was gone, they were both miserable. Harry tried to cheer her up one night, dancing to a tune on the radio. It worked for as long as the song was playing but it ended once the song was over. Hermione was becoming obsessed with a symbol she kept finding everywhere. Harry was playing with the Snitch Dumbledore had left him when he had a sudden thought. He put the Snitch to his lips and words appeared. He raced to show Hermione. He tentatively brought up the idea of going to Godric's Hollow again. Much to his surprise, this time Hermione agreed. She thought the Sword of Gryffindor might be there. Harry thought there might be a Horcrux there.

Once there, they quickly figured out that it was Christmas. They found the house Harry had briefly lived in. They also found the cemetery where Harry's parents were buried. It was Hermione who noticed the weird old lady watching them. Harry thought she might the lady Rita Skitter had interviewed for her Dumbledore expose'.

As they followed the old lady to her house, she never said a word to them. Hermione had an increasingly bad feeling about her.

"Harry, I'm not so sure we should be doing this. She's been talking to the Daily Prophet. How do you know we can trust her?" Hermione softly whispered to Harry.

Harry shrugged. "We have to start trusting someone, Hermione, why not her? She's just an old lady. How bad can it be?"

Hermione still didn't like it. As the old lady led Harry out of the room, Hermione poked around. She found a copy of the book with a note from the reporter. She started smelling a weird smell. When it led to a door into the pantry, the bad feeling she'd had earlier skyrocketed. She raced to find Harry. She ran into the room in time to see a huge snake shed the old woman like a used up snake skin. The snake launched at Harry who ducked out of its way. Hermione ran to him. They began throwing curses at the snake. Hermione busted out the window and grabbed Harry pulling him backwards as the snake launched itself again. They leaped out the window and Hermione transported them before they hit the ground.

When Harry woke up, he came out to a beautiful campfire scene. Hermione told him it was the forest of Dean where her parents used to take her camping as a child. She looked tired and discouraged. "Let's just stay here, Harry. We'll just stay here and grow old together," Harry sat down beside her and put an arm around her. That's when she brought his wand out. It had been broken while escaping from Nagini.

Harry wasn't too pleased about his wand but he was too grateful to Hermione for getting them out to be mad at her. They took turns keeping watching with her wand. One night, as Hermione was asleep, Harry spotted a doe.

To his surprise, it was a doe Patronus. He immediately thought of his mother. He wondered if she'd sent it to him. It led him outside the wards and to a small frozen pond. As he slipped and slid on the ice, he looked down. Then he vanished a small hole in the ice to see better. He thought he was seeing things but, no, there was the sword of Gryffindor, at the bottom of the pond. He tried to Accio the sword, despite knowing Accio had never worked with any of the Horcruxes.

Of course, it wasn't going to be easy to reach the sword. When had it ever been easy getting the Horcruxes? Harry stripped down to his underwear, melted a hole in the ice and slid into the water. He sank down and neared the sword.

As his fingers made contact, the chain holding the locket around his neck suddenly snapped tight and started strangling Harry. He panicked as his air was suddenly cut off. He kicked back to the surface but he hadn't descended in a straight line, so he ran into ice. As he fought his way towards the hole, he never noticed that a second body dropped into the water.

Next thing he knew, he was being pulled from the water. As he coughed and spat out what seemed like half the lake, he heard a familiar voice talking to him. "Are you mental? What were you thinking, diving into icy water like that?!" It was Ron. How he'd found them, Harry hadn't a clue. But he knew one thing for sure. They had the sword. Now they could kill the Horcrux!

They laid it on a thick branch and Harry told Ron to be ready. Ron didn't like the thought of killing it because it seemed to affect him the most. Harry said that was exactly why it had to be Ron. Harry waited until Ron was poised to strike, then he commanded the locket to open.

As it did, a big billow of smoke came out. As the locket taunted Ron with never being good enough, both boys were puzzled. It was showing Hermione with a dark haired boy who wasn't anyone they recognized. Had the boy faced them instead of Hermione, Harry would have realized it was the young Snatcher from weeks ago. Ron yelled and lunged forward, slamming the sword down. With a loud, inhuman scream, the smoke faded and the locket sat there, blackened as it was burnt to a crisp.

They started back to camp. Harry was telling Ron about the Godric's Hollow adventure where his wand got broken. As they reached camp, Hermione came out of the tent. "Hermione," yelled Harry, "Hermione, come quick! Look who's here!" Ron smiled, sword in one hand, destroyed Horcrux in the other, clearly expecting her to welcome him back with open arms.

Hermione slowly walked towards Ron. It was only at the last minute when Ron realized it wasn't going to be to the welcome he wanted. "Ron" Hermione pushed him, "Weasley!" she screamed angrily. "How dare you just come back like nothing's wrong!" She slung handfuls of leaves at him. She stormed away in a huff. Harry told Ron to give it a few days and give her a chance to calm down.

Later that evening, she told them about the symbol that was showing up everywhere and announced they needed to go see Mr. Lovegood. He had worn a necklace with the symbol to Bill and Fleur's wedding. The next morning, they set off.

They reached the Lovegood house about two hours later. When they knocked, Mr. Lovegood didn't seem to recognize them. When Hermione asked him about the symbol, he told her it was the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. When asked what they were, he referenced a story told in a book left to Hermione by Dumbledore. The three brothers , it was called. Hermione dug the book out and read the story. Afterwards, Harry was still confused as to why the symbol meant the deathly hallows. Mr. Lovegood preceded to draw them a picture as he explained. That's when Hermione realized that, IF the story was real and if anyone really wanted to believe it, they actually had one of the Hallows, Harry's Invisibility cloak.

All the time they were there, Mr. Lovegood appeared either nervous or in a daze. Hermione was starting to realize it might not have been the best idea to come there, particularly as he kept making excuses as to why Luna wasn't there. As they were getting ready to leave, he suddenly began blocking their way and saying he was sorry, it was the only way. Before they could stop him, he said Voldemort's name. the reaction was immediate. They could hear Death Eaters outside bombarding the house. Ron and Harry crawled over to Hermione as they knelt in the middle of the floor. She diapparated them out of the house, just in time.

They landed back in the same campsite they had used a few short weeks ago. Ron was cussing. "Treacherous little bleeder! Is there no one we can trust!"

"They kidnapped Luna because he supported me. He was desperate." Harry said reasonably.

Ron sighed. "I'll do the enchantments."

Hermione hadn't said a word yet. She was still mentally beating herself up for putting them in danger in the first place. She was walking towards the bank, head down. She saw the combat boots first, followed them up the black plaid pants, the vest, until her eyes stopped at a ring. It was on his right hand. It looked like a horned skull set in silver. The other hand was enclosed in a fingerless black glove. It was curled around a very familiar scarf. She looked further up. He was staring at her intently. He raised the scarf to his nose and took a deep whiff. Then he lowered it. He smiled wickedly at her.

"Hello, Beautiful."

(Scabior)

He wasn't sure how long they would have to wait for her to come back so they kept a semi- permanent cap set up. They took turns taking groups out cutting the list of names shorter and shorter until they heard about an incident at Godric's Hollow, none other than the birthplace of one Harry Potter. He was sent to check it out.

As he walked in the door, he caught her scent almost immediately. He also scented one of the boys but wasn't sure which boy it was. He hadn't taken the time to memorize them, only enough to know if they were near. He went upstairs and looked out at the two story drop. He sighed and gritted his teeth. 'They were still putting her in danger' he thought angrily.

He went back to camp and told McKeon if they hadn't shown up in the next week, they'd move their base of operations back to Diagon Alley. He knew McKeon got anxious if he was away from his girl too long at a time.

That night, they sat around the campfire, drinking, playing cards and planning their next adventures. After McKeon and Greyback retired for the night, Scabior stayed up. He was thinking about her again. Ever since he'd been handed that damned wanted poster, she'd been on his mind. He kept thinking back to the first Death Eater meeting he and McKeon had gone to, with Greyback. The Dark Lord had plainly said then whoever brought in Harry Potter would have the Mudblood Granger as a reward. He was determined to be the one who found them. That girl was his!

The next day, he and McKeon were comparing coordinates. He had the first quadrant, McKeon had the next quadrant. If she got past him, she'd run right into McKeon. They scattered out, he knew it would be today, he just knew it, they were too close.

As he waited leant up against a tree, he heard a small commotion to his right. He looked and there she was. She hadn't seen him yet. He quietly sent a Patronus to McKeon to get into position. As she finally looked at him, he smiled at her.

"Hello, Beautiful"


	6. the capture

The capture

No money made.

Scabior catches the trio. Re written chapter, this is the chapter I originally intended to post. Warning triggers: violence, non con relations and as always, language.

"Hello beautiful"

Hermione gasped and stumbled back. She turned to look for Harry and Ron, only to realize they were also facing Snatchers. As one, the three of them took off running as fast as they could.

"Well, don't hang about, snatch 'em!" Scabior yelled as he took off after her. He stayed as close to her as he could, knowing his boys were going to start throwing hexes in an attempt to stop them. This way, he could pretend to be throwing hexes but he would actually be throwing shielding charms around her, the boys could protect themselves.

Her mind was racing. 'How had they found them?!' it couldn't have been just the scarf. That could have belonged to anyone! But she knew, from the way he stared at her, he KNEW the scarf was hers. As she sped through the woods as quickly as possible, she tried to keep track of where Harry was. She knew Ron and Harry both could fend for themselves but if they were caught together, she HAD to protect Harry from being identified.

The chase was intensifying. The Snatchers were starting to throw disarming spells at them. She heard Ron cry out and a thump. She chanced a quick Reducto over her shoulder and at least three snatchers yelled as a tree exploded on them. She and Harry were running parallel to each other. She could see a snatcher running across the top of the tunnel Harry ran down into. The Snatcher dropped and she almost stopped breathing, until Harry popped out of the end, having evaded the dropping pursuer.

She came to a clearing and, to her horror, could see more Snatchers waiting in a straight line ahead of them. 'Oh, Merlin', she thought, 'What do I do? What can I do? Protect Harry! They mustn't know who he is! Please, Merlin, please, help me protect Harry!' With that thought in mind, she turned around and blasted a Stinging Hex at Harry.

Scabior watched as she realized they were trapped. She swung around to face them and flung a hex. Not at him or his crew, much to his surprise, but at the back haired boy. He was sure he knew who the boy was but since she didn't seem intent on keeping herself safe, only the boy, he decided he'd play along with her, let her think she'd fooled them.

Harry went down, groaning with pain. She ran to him in time to grab his glasses off and drop them in her bag. She was grabbed and pulled away from Harry as the rest of the Snatchers finally caught up to them.

"Don't touch her!" Ron screamed, then grunted as he was kicked in the stomach.

"Leave him alone!" Hermione screamed. "Get off me!"

"Your boyfriend," drawled that unforgettable voice, "will get much worse than that if he doesn't learn to behave himself." Scabior jumped down off the bank. He walked past Harry, glanced down and jumped in surprise. He hadn't realized she'd hexed the boy that bad. "What happened to you, ugly?" He asked. Harry glared at him. Greyback also glanced at him questioningly. "Not you," he said to Greyback, "We all know about that mud puddle." Greyback rolled his eyes. 'Damn pups knew he couldn't resist rolling in a mud puddle.'

"What's your name, ugly?" he asked.

"Dudley, Vernon Dudley" Harry answered. Scabior nodded absently. "Check it" he ordered, having already lost interest in Harry. He walked past Ron without a word. Hermione had been pulled away from Harry by McKeon, who proceeded to back her up to a tree and bind her to it. He walked over to Greyback who was inspecting Harry and Ron. Scabior stopped in front of her and leaned into her.

"And you, my lovely, what do they call you?" he stared into her eyes. He was so close she could clearly see an outer ring of brown around his kohl lined clear blue eyes. She swallowed in fear. "Penelope Clearwater, half-blood." He lifted a strand of her hair and pressed it to his nose. He closed his eyes and almost seemed on the verge of kissing her.

"There's no Vernon Dudley on the list, boss." A Snatcher named Turnbull called to Scabior. Hermione sighed as it got him to turn away from her. She watched in fear as he walked straight to Harry and swept his bangs aside, exposing the lightning bolt scar stretched out but clearly visible. He walked back to her. He leaned against her, running his hands into her hair. He whispered into her ear, "Are you sure, Penelope?" he kissed her cheek softly. "Or should I say, Hermione Granger, Mudblood?"

She gasped as her eyes met his. "Please," she whispered softly. "Please, don't hurt them, please don't turn them in! I'll do anything, whatever you want, just please don't turn them in." she started sobbing quietly.

Scabior gazed at her, no visible expression on his face. She was unable to tell if he was considering her offer or considering how rich he would soon be. He shifted against her and she felt a hardness near her hip. She tried to shift any from him but he suddenly shoved his knee under her left leg, raising it slightly above his own leg. He gripped her hair with both hands and began dropping little kisses down her neck. He was almost to the neckline of her shirt when he was distracted again, this time by McKeon.

"Well, I'm going to assume this means she's the girl you've been hunting down, cousin, a moment of your time?" he asked teasingly. Scabior rolled his eyes and whispered, "later" as he gave Hermione one last, hard kiss before leaving her. She was shaking and breathless. She wasn't sure if it was fear of him or fear of what he intended for her that she was frightened of. She remembered his whispered threat several months ago. He would, undoubtedly, be pleased to find himself being her first one.

She looked over at Harry and Ron, both of whom were staring at her, wide eyed with concern. Harry, the sweet, skinny little brother she'd never had, until Hogwarts. If THAT was what it took to convince the young Snatcher to release Harry and Ron, she'd pay the price gladly. Harry had to be protected at all costs!

Scabior and McKeon walked over to Greyback. He looked back to see her glancing at the two boys, but smiling reassuringly at the black haired boy. He knew the boy was Potter, he just wanted to see exactly how far she actually would let him go. 'Would she really give her body to him, in an effort to get the Potter boy freed'? He stared at the ground. His head was spinning with the thought that, at long last, she might finally, actually be his for the taking.

"So, what are we doing with them? Turning them in or helping them do whatever the hell it is they're doing out here?" McKeon asked. Scabior looked at Greyback and shrugged. "You've been with him the longest, Fen, you have much more to lose than we do. What do you want to do? Turn 'em in or help 'em?" Greyback sighed and rubbed his brow. "Do we even know what the hell they're doing yet? Let's ask them and see what they say. If it sounds reasonable, we'll help them. If not, we turn them in or at least pretend to turn them in."

Scabior walked over to Horry and squatted in front of him. He was silently considering whether the boy would even talk to him. "Hey, ugly. What are you three doing out here? It's a dangerous time to be traveling, you know."

Harry looked at him in surprise. Was it possible the Snatcher hadn't recognized them? "We were taking her home. We rescued her a while back, some men were trying to attack her, we saved her, she begged us to take her home." He lied. Scabior narrowed his eyes at the boy. He looked at Ron, who glared back at him. No doubt, the ginger didn't like seeing him with his hands on Hermione. He stood up and walked over to her again. Running his hands into her hair as he pressed against her, he spoke softly to her. "One last chance, darling, and the truth this time. Why are you three out here? What are you up to that's more important than your safety?!" This time, he snarled angrily and gripped her hair tightly.

Hermione cried out in pain. Harry yelled, "Stop it, just stop hurting her! We're hunting something that can end the war!"

"Harry, shut up! Stop talking, now!" Hermione screamed.

"No, he's hurting you! If it makes him stop, I'll tell him whatever he wants to know!" Harry didn't want to see Hermione scared or in pain. She had trusted him enough to follow him on a journey she knew was dangerous and he wouldn't stand by and let her take the fall for him.

"What exactly is it that you're hunting for?" Scabior questioned Harry but never took his eyes off Hermione, nor did he release her hair.

Greyback and McKeon watched as he questioned the Trio. It was mainly Harry who told him what he wanted to know. He told him everything they knew about the Horcruxes, which actually was still not a lot but it gave him a general idea of why they were out in the woods instead of safely hidden away.

"So, let me get this straight. These Horcruxes, if found and destroyed, can cause him to be mortal again? He can be killed?" he asked. He had resumed kissing her as Harry started talking. After all, it wasn't him they needed to convince, it was Greyback who wanted to know what was going on. He was just providing the motivation for them to speak. By the time Harry stopped talking, he had her jacket unbuttoned and his hands under her shirt.

He looked at Greyback and raised an eyebrow. Greyback nodded and jerked a thumb towards himself. He pulled away from her reluctantly and went to huddle with them again. "Well, Fen? It's up to you. Turn them in or help them?"

"The Dark Lord is beginning to get suspicious that none of us have caught Potter yet. If we take them anywhere, I vote for Malfoy Manor. If we tip them off about where to be, they should be able to Apparate out of there on their own. Better yet, if I send a Patronus to Lucius, he'll set the wards in such a way as they can very easily escape. He wants Snakeface dead as badly as we do, he just can't openly show it." Greyback scrubbed his hands down his face. "The only hitch in this plan is the girl. She's Muggleborn, which means Bella will be itching to torture her. But we need the girl, otherwise they won't believe it's actually Potter we have. They still won't anyway, so they'll try to see if Draco recognizes the boy. They could really care less about Weasley, just so long as it's actually Potter we have."

"What about the reward the Dark Lord mentioned that time?" McKeon spoke up. "Would that be enough to get Bella to keep her hands off the girl?" Scabior looked conflicted. He wanted to keep the girl away from Bella but Fen was right, it was too well known that Potter and Weasley never went anywhere without Granger. If this plan had a hope in hell of working, he'd just have to take her, claim the reward and pray that Bella was scared enough of the Dork Lord's wrath that she wouldn't push the issue. He nodded.

He went to his girl. "Ok, lovely, we're taking a little trip, to Malfoy Manor." Hermione immediately began struggling. "That wasn't part of the deal. You can't turn them in!"

"What deal, sweetie? I don't remember agreeing to anything." He smiled at her as she realized he was right, he hadn't actually said he wouldn't turn them in, she'd just assumed he wasn't going to because he couldn't keep his hands off her.

He unbound her from the tree and pulled her roughly against him. Earlier, he had ordered his crews to change their campsite to here from the riverside. His tent was already set up and he pulled her in that direction. She started struggling harder to escape him.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" she screamed. Harry and Ron were fighting their bindings, attempting to free themselves to help her.

He laughed at her attempts to fight him. "You said you'd do anything, whatever I wanted, remember?"

"That was before I realized you're going to turn us in anyway. Why are you doing this? Please, let me go!" she begged.

Once inside the tent, he pulled her over to the bed. He shoved her against the bed and followed when she went down. As she laid facedown, crying, she felt him reach around, underneath her. He unbuttoned her shirt and raised up long enough to pull both it and her jacket off. They were flung to the corner of the room. He bracketed her hips with his legs and turned her over to her back. He put his left hand around her neck at the base of her throat and his right hand was placed on her chest, between her breasts. She was silently shedding tears, waiting for the worst.

"Baso Novio, baso novio, baso novio." He softly intoned. He watched proudly as a beautiful dragon tattoo imprinted itself into her flesh. It began at the base of her throat and continued to the center of her chest, exactly where his hands were placed on her. He removed a platinum ring with a tiny green snake entwined around a tiny red lion from his pants pocket, placing it on her left ring finger. It self-adjusted to her and fit tight enough that she knew she wouldn't easily remove it.

He swooped down and kissed her again. This time, his hand strayed to her breasts. He squeezed them enough to keep her breathless. As he kept her distracted, he waved a hand and finished undressing her and himself. He eased down on her and positioned himself. He stopped kissing her in time to plunge himself to the hilt as she screamed in pain. He held himself still until he felt in control enough to go on. As he started moving urgently within her, he kissed her tears away. "I'm sorry, darling. I didn't plan on your first time being this fast or rough but you'll see why it had to happen this way. The next time will be better, I promise." With that, he sent them both over the edge.

He rose from the bed and retrieved her clothes. She stayed down a moment longer, making sure he wasn't coming back for more. She sat up and looked at her hand. There was a mirror behind him. She stood and walked gingerly over to it. A spell. He'd performed a spell on her and marked her but what kind of spell? She'd never heard it before.

"It's a binding spell, Granger. You can't remove the ring, either, only I can. If the ring ever detaches by itself, then it means I've died." He gazed at her carefully.

"I've never heard it before, that spell. What kind of binding spell puts a tattoo on someone?" Hermione was almost afraid to ask.

He stood behind her as she gazed at the tattoo. "It's a wedding bond." Her eyes met his incredulously. "What?! You just,,,what?!" she almost screamed. "Congratulations, Mrs. Scabior. Well, soon to be anyway. It's actually more of an engagement bond than marriage, at this point." He leaned down and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "We'll remedy that soon, though."

He finished dressing himself and hesitated a moment. He took the pink scarf he'd been wearing and put it back around her neck. He led her out of the tent. Harry and Ron were still fighting to get free. He leaned down and told her, "get your boys under control or they'll be dumped in a ditch somewhere, beautiful." She jerked around and looked at him angrily. He laughed at her little hiss of temper. He was so going to enjoy her, yes he was.


	7. Malfoy Manor

Malfoy Manor

No money made

Trio is taken to Malfoy Manor.

Warning triggers: violence, torture, language.

"Harry! Ron! Stop it! Calm down, I'm ok." She didn't know whether he was hinting that he would abandon the boys along the road somewhere or he would actually kill the boys and leave them in a ditch. All the same, she wasn't taking any chances with their lives.

Scabior suddenly stumbled forward and almost went to his knees as McKeon ran up and jumped on his back. He burst out laughing, "You big numpty, get off me! What the hell, mate?"

McKeon was doubled over, laughing. It wasn't often that he actually managed to surprise his cousin like that. Greyback walked over, chuckling at their antics. They had little enough to laugh about right now. It was good to see them play fight once in a while. They'd had to grow up entirely too fast.

He stopped in front of Scabior. Placing a hand on his shoulder and another on his head, grasping his half fallen ponytail, he gently reminded the boy they had unfinished business.

"We're going to Malfoy Manor, pup. You can't walk in there like this. You know what might happen, especially if we go in and HE"S there. Occulude your thoughts. Bury the happy thoughts, bring up all the hurt, the pain, the anger. Let that be all they see, you know Bella will be reading your thoughts. You can't let her see what the girl actually means to you or she WILL try to kill her." He told him.

Scabior nodded. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and concentrated. McKeon, standing beside Harry, lightly kicked him. Harry jumped and looked up. McKeon pointed at Scabior. "Pay attention, boy, free lesson in Occlumency here." Harry wondered how he knew about the Occulmency lessons. He suddenly realized these Snatchers might not have been as fooled by Hermione's plan as she had hoped.

He watched as the lead Snatcher stood quietly, taking deep breaths and concentrating. When he opened his eyes, he was no longer the happy go lucky boy who pulled Hermione out of the tent behind him. He was back to being the arrogant Snatcher who could care less about anything but how much gold he was about to earn.

Scabior motioned to them. "Greyback, you get ugly. Mckeon, take ginger. I'll take the girl through. Turnbull, Bilby, you're with us. Goyle 1, Goyle 2, you're in charge of camp, please don't let anything burn down while we're gone." With orders given, he grabbed Hermione's arm again and Disapparated. Greyback grabbed Harry, Mckeon grabbed Ron and they were gone.

They reappeared at the edge of a field. In the distance they could see the Manor. As they reached the end of the walkway, Scabior pushed Hermione towards Greyback. "Take her, I need to show the boy." He passed his left wrist through the bars of the gate and they waited. Bellatrix Lestrange strolled down to meet them. He shoved Harry against the gate and brushed aside the bangs over his scar.

Bella's eyes widened. She opened the gate and they entered the Manor. Scabior glanced nervously back at Greyback. Greyback reassured him with a smile. Bella yelled for Draco. She knew who Harry was and mostly what he looked like but the fight at the Ministry had been too fast and furiously fought for her to say with certainty that she was looking at Harry Potter.

Draco came into the drawing room reluctantly. He didn't even have to see Harry. He knew as soon as he saw Ron and Hermione that they had the Trio. Bella pulled him over to the dark haired boy, kneeling on the floor. "Well, is it him?"

"I can't be sure. What happened to his face?" Draco stared desperately at Harry. Harry could see he was trying to delay a positive identification as long as he could. Bella stood up and turned to the Snatchers.

"What did happen to his face? Was it, you dearie?" Bella leered at Hermione. "Give me her wand, we'll see what her last spell was?" she snapped her fingers impatiently. "Hee, hee, got you, girlie." She giggled. Turnbull was standing slightly ahead of Greyback. He had a sword hanging from his belt. Bella gasped as she saw the sword. "Where did you get that?"

Turnbull looked at it. "I got it out of the girl's bag. Reckon it's mine now" he smiled proudly.

Bella shrieked loudly and killed him as he finished speaking. Bilby waved his wand but he, too, was killed promptly. Bella cursed loudly at them. "Get out, Get out now!"

She flung a hex at Greyback that turned her wand into a whip. Before she could do more than fling him to the floor, however, she was confronted by two angry werewolves, ready to defend their Alpha.

"Are you mad?!" Scabior yelled. "Let him go, now!" He and Mckeon had their wands aimed squarely at Bella. She quickly retracted her hex.

"I have to question the girl! She stole that sword from me! I have to know what else she took!" She shrieked. Ron had been thrown aside as soon as McKeon saw Greyback attacked. Scabior had Hermione behind him. Draco had unobtrusively moved in front of Harry, shielding him.

"No, she's mine! Question the boys if you have to but not her. I earned her and she's mine! The Dark Lord said so!" Scabior was furious. He knew it was a bad idea to bring her. Now Bella wanted to get her hooks into her over a stupid, fucking sword! If Turnbull wasn't already dead, Scabior would have killed the fucking moron himself.

"She's yours? How do you figure that? When did the Dark Lord say that?" Bella questioned angrily. 'How dare the little wolf try to keep her away from a Mudblood!'

"The first meeting after he marked me, Bellatrix! He named ME head Snatcher, remember that? He wanted Potter, he didn't give two shits about Weasley or the Mudblood, He just wanted Potter! Whoever brought in Potter got the girl, you crazy bint! I've brought you Potter, now I get the girl, That was THE DEAL!" Scabior snapped back at her. 'Bitch was NOT getting his girl!'

Bellatrix took a deep breath as she remembered that meeting. 'Damn it all, the boy was right! The Dark Lord HAD promised the little Mudblood as a reward, damnit!' She still needed answers, though. "You're right, darling, he did promise the girl as a reward. I need your help then. I need you to question her. Ask her where she got the sword, how did she get into my vault, what else did she take? I need to know, dear."

Scabior turned to Hermione and pinned her to the wall. "Well, where did you get that sword, beautiful?" he grabbed her hair and put enough pressure on it to make her gasp in pain.

"I don't know where they got it, they just found it." She whispered. He leaned closer and whispered in her ear. "Do better than that or we're both DEAD."

He slammed his hand into the wall beside her. "LIAR! Where did you get it? Where?" He yelled. She screamed fearfully. "I don't know, I don't know! I was asleep, they came back with it, please I don't know!"

"What else did you steal? Tell me! What else did you steal from her!" he gritted out the question. He had a firm grasp on her hair and squeezed it painfully with every question. Hermione was screaming in fear and pain. "Nothing, I swear, I've taken nothing from her, I've never even been near the vaults, I don't have one, I promise, I've taken nothing else from her, please!" She sobbed pitifully. Scabior looked over his shoulder at Bella. He raised an eyebrow.

"Read her mind, darling, see what she's trying to hide." Bella leaned against Scabior's back and stroked the red stranded braid gently. "And don't be gentle about it." Hermione gasped in fear. Legilimens! She stared, wide eyed with fear, at Scabior. 'Surely he wouldn't',, before she could finish the thought, he was in her mind.

'She was standing behind her parents, pointing her wand, "Obliviate." She was walking down a busy street with Harry and Ron trying to figure out where they could hide. She was crying over a newspaper article about a young man she used to know. She was Apparating them away from Grimmauld Place after getting loose from Yaxley. She was standing in fear, watching Snatchers pass her in the darkness.'

At that last memory, he pulled away from her mind. She sank down lower against the wall, sobbing in pain. "There was nothing in her memories about a sword, a vault or even Gringotts." He told Bella evenly. 'not that he actually looked very closely.' He turned around and faced Bella. "Now, I've questioned her, I've read her mind, there's nothing. If you don't mind, I'd like to take my Mudlood back to camp fuck her some more."

Bella cackled as she slowly stepped away. He took a step to the side and that's all Bella needed. Quick as a snake, she pulled a dagger from her belt and jabbed towards Hermione.

"Mikey!" McKeon yelled a warning. He jumped back, grabbed Hermione's hair (the first thing he felt), felt a burning pain in his side and Disapparated. Harry and Ron screamed as Hermione vanished. They'd seen the knife but not who it hit. Had she stabbed Hermione or Scabior?

Greyback roared as he pulled his wand and flung a crucio at Bella. "You fucking bitch,that was my pup! How dare you try and kill my pup!" Bella fell to the floor, screaming. "Alex, go get Severus, take him to camp, take him to Mikey!" Alex, looking angrily at Bella, nodded and Disapparated. Harry grabbed Draco's hand from behind. Draco had been loosely holding their wands. He got his wand, tossed Ron his and stood up, ready to fight. Draco looked at him and shook his head. "Wards are DOWN. GO. NOW!" he mouthed urgently. Harry looked at Greyback in time to see him stun Bella and Disapparte himself.

"Potter," Lucius Malfoy looked at him. "Destination doesn't always have to be a place. It can be a person." Harry nodded. He grabbed Ron's arm and thought of Hermione. Then he Disapparated them.


	8. saving scabior

Saving Scabior

No money made.

Trio escaped, land back at Snatcher Central. Some sadness, some laughter. Scabior and Hermione show their snarky sides.

The landing was harder than expected. Of course, that was probably the usual reaction to getting Apparated by the hair on your head. Why he'd grabbed her hair and not her shoulder or arm, she had no clue. His hand was still painfully twisted up in it. She winced as she reached up and untangled from him.

As soon as she registered that he had no other hold on her, her first instinct was to run. She actually jumped up and started away from him. But she stopped and turned around. He was still laying there, on his right side, not even twitching. He looked,,dead. She looked at the ring on her left hand and tugged it. No, he wasn't dead,,yet. She clearly remembered him telling her the ring would only detach if he removed it or he was dead.

She went back to him. His eyes were open, he was looking at her. She knelt beside him, then she noticed the knife. It was lodged in his left side, near the bottom of his ribcage. She tried to pull it loose. She couldn't even budge it.

"Scabior? Scabior, please, the knife, I can't pull the knife out. I need you to help me. Scabior! Answer me! Do you hear me? I can't get the knife loose!" she yelled at him. He pulled in a shallow breath. His lips were moving, she bent closer.

"Silver handle, iron blade, poisoned,,,can't touch it, my lovely, lycanthropy." He whispered shakily. "I'm sorry. You'll be rid of me soon. I didn't intend that to be your first time. It had to be then. If I hadn't marked you, I never would have been able to get you out of there alive. She would have killed you, my sweet girl, I couldn't lose my little Granger, not that soon." He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He could feel the poison spreading within him. If he didn't get treatment soon, she wouldn't have to worry about being bonded to a werewolf much longer.

Hermione was frantically pulling on the knife as soon as he mentioned poison. With a sudden whoosh, Greybak appeared before her. "Greyback! Greyback, help me! I can't get the knife out! Please, Greyback, help me!"

Greyback looked at her sadly. "Sweeheart, I can't touch it. It's a sliver handle, silver and weres don't mix. If it were anything but silver or iron, I could pull it out."

Another whoosh, this time it was Harry and Ron. "Harry! Ron! Get your arses over here, now!" she screamed at them. They scrambled over, harry beside her and Ron beside Greyback. "I need you to pull the knife out. I'm not strong enough to and Greyback can't touch it."

"Like hell, I will." Ron yelled, infuriated that Hermione wanted him to help the one who had stolen her from him. In a flash, Hermione had him by the hair. "Ronald Weasley, you can and you will!" Ron's eyes widened in fear. Harry snorted softly and Greyback had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. 'Mikey might have met his match in this fiery little muggleborn.'

A third whoosh announced the arrival of McKeon and Snape. A warning glance was all it took from Hermione to keep Harry and Ron from attacking Snape. "Do not touch that blade out here, we need to get him back inside his wards." Snape ordered.

Greyback came around to kneel beside Hermione and pick his pup up. He looked so helpless as Greyback cradled him like a baby. He carried him into their camp. Hermione hadn't realized they were right outside the wards. "Miss Granger, you can pass through on your own but the boys will need to be touching you, if they choose to come inside." Snape told her sharply. "Please be advised, I'll need your assistance shortly. You can run if you choose, but he can find you anywhere now that he has bonded with you." With that said, Snape and McKeon went through the wards.

"Hermione, come on, let's go." Ron said urgently.

Hermione looked at him. "No, I'm staying. You two can go or you can stay. Didn't you hear Snape? It wouldn't do any good for me to run. He'd find me, no matter where I tried to hide. Besides, I want to stay. He needs me and I can't leave him, not like this."

Ron looked at Harry. "Say something, Harry, tell her! We need to leave!" Harry was looking at Hermione, remembering all those nights before they left Grimmauld Place and after they were in the woods. The nights he would wake up to hear her sobbing, the mornings she would have slightly puffy, red eyes. He'd thought, at the time, it was because of the three of them fighting over being unable to destroy the Horcrux, then Ron storming out. But he'd awakened several more times since then, now he knew. It was because of him, the snatcher, Scabior.

"No, I think I want to stay, too, Ron. What better place to hide out from HIM than right in the middle of a camp of Snatchers?" Harry watched as Hermione released a deep breath. She was pleased that he wanted to stay. He didn't have the heart to tell her, it was only because of her, that he was staying.

Much to their surprise, a fourth whoosh announced the arrival of Lucius and Draco Malfoy. Without a single glance at them, Lucius swept through the wards. Draco lingered to exchange glares with Harry and Ron but bowed his head respectfully to Hermione, then followed his father inside.

With no further ado, Hermione grabbed an arm each and dragged Harry and Ron inside. She released them and ran to where she could see a large crowd gathered. Everyone was assembled outside Scabior's tent. She ducked inside in time to hear Snape call for her. She ran over beside him.

"Miss Granger, you will be learning how to heal him. Come, child, I'll show you the correct spells." He said.

"I can't do any spells. He took my wand and I can't do wandless magic." She told him timidly. He raised Scabior's left arm. His wand was sheathed in the black glove he wore. Snape removed the wand. "Here, you're bonded with him. His wand should recognize you."

She took the wand hesitantly. She felt a small surge of power, nothing like she felt with her wand but enough to know the wand would allow her to use it.

Snape pulled her right beside him. He and Lucius both gripped the knife. They pulled and the knife slid loose. Scabior's body arched off the table. Alex, Fenrir, and Draco had their arms draped across him to help keep him on the table. As Ron sulked in the corner, Harry ran over and stood beside Alex. He alspo draped an arm across Scabior.

"The first spell will extract the poison, Granger. Your motion is stirring a cauldron. Your incantation is Parsa Hexia Exito." Snape said as he wrapped the knife in a clean cloth. He had been with the Dark Lord when Alex found him. The Dark Lord was furious that one of his 'pets' had been injured but skeptical when Alex told him Bella was the one who stabbed Scabior. He told Snape to return with the blade so he could be sure before he decided to punish Bella.

Hermione started slowly but quickly got the hang of the spell. She was just grateful that the wand was allowing her to use it. Wizards were notoriously jealous over their wands. He might not be too pleased when he woke up but she'd deal with that temper tantrum later. She was horrified to see his blood boiling as she extracted the poison. She chanced a quick look at Snape. "It's the Blood Boiler potion, in case you were wondering, Granger, commonly used as a poison during battle. His blood will boil until all the poison is out." Snape told her quietly. Soon she was pleased to see that his blood had stopped boiling.

"Your next job is extracting the iron from his blood. The stirring motion is the same. The incantation this time is Hexia Exito. His blood will appear to be black until all the iron is extracted. You're doing an excellent job, Granger." Seeing as the comment wasn't accompanied by the usual snarky remark, she took it as the compliment he intended it to be.

The boy was no longer white. He still wasn't his usual tan but he had a semblance of normal color. He suddenly arched off the table and drew a deep, agonizing breath. Hermione cried out in fear. The black blood appeared to be going back into his system. "Ally, Ally! Where did he hide Granger's wand? His wand is rejecting her now that he's out of danger!" Snape yelled.

Alex looked around desperately. 'There were a blue dozen places where he hid stuff. How the bloody hell was he supposed to know!' He started checking the obvious places first, becoming more desperate each time he came up empty handed. He raced over. "Mikey, Mikey, come on, Mikey, open your eyes! Where's Granger's wand, Mikey? She needs it, fast!" The young Were blearily opened his eyes and stretched out his right hand."Accio." he whispered as a small container flew into his hand. It dropped and shattered as he was unable to firmly grasp it. There in the shattered remains laid Hermione's wand. "Accio." She quickly got back on track and continued healing him.

His color was getting better all the time. He opened his eyes and Hermione was the first person he saw. She had discarded her coat and her shirt rode up slightly as she reached for his injury. He raised his right hand and lightly laid it on her hip. She startled briefly but didn't miss a beat. He smiled mischievously and slid his hand further up under her shirt. A quick intake of breath was her only reaction. Alex and Harry saw what he was doing and were snorting with laughter. The older wizards were looking at them quizzically. Draco was watching them in confusion from the other end of the table.

Just as his hand cupped underneath her breast, she flipped her wand into the air, grabbed his arm, slammed it to the table and hissed, "Stop it! I'm trying to save your life here," caught the wand as it came back down and continued the spell as if nothing had happened. He yelped, "Damn, Granger, you almost broke my bloody hand!' Alex and Harry fell up laughing. Draco had already hit the floor and was dying laughing. Greyback was biting his lip and snorting as was Severus. Lucius was staring up at the ceiling of the tent as if he had never seen one before, just a hair away from laughing himself. "Oh, Cissa, you are so going to enjoy the antics of these two!"

Finally she managed to extract all the iron and his blood was a bright red. It was time to close the wound. Hermione looked at Shape. "I had pain potions, fever potions and Dittany in my bag but it was also taken. I'm hoping you have some of those potions with you."

"Mikey," Alex said quietly, "who had her bag last?"

"Pretty sure it was Turnbull and his arse is dead. Unless he left it in his tent." Mikey replied, just as quietly. Alex slipped out of the tent and raced to Turnbull's tent. There, on the floor, was the little beaded purse, belonging to Granger. He snapped it up and raced back. He handed it to Hermione who took it with a relieved smile. She summoned a pain potion, a fever reducer and essence of dittany to close the wound. Before long, Mikey found himself almost asleep as he was gently lifted and relocated to his bed. He grabbed Hermione's hand. "Stay, please?" She looked torn but she finally nodded. She'd need to keep a check on his wound anyway, make sure he didn't tear it back open.

Severus, Greyback and Lucius were quietly talking. He and Severus were filling Lucius in on the Horcruxes. Lucius told Greyback to let Potter know he'd help if they found another Horcrux and needed help destroying it. Alex and Harry were chatting as Harry set up the tent he, Ron and Hermione had been living in for most of the year. Draco was standing beside his father. Ron was sitting by the campfire, still sulking over Hermione. Goyles 1 and 2 came up to Alex for a status report, both on the camp and their leader.

Alex had less control over the Snatchers than Mikey, but he managed to resolve what issues he could and let the rest of them go until Mikey was back on his feet. The Goyles introduced themselves to Harry as John and Jeff, older brothers of Gregory. Harry shook hands with them.

As Severus and the Malfoys prepared to take their leave, Harry walked up to Snape and asked him simply, "Why? Why did you do it? Was there a good reason? That's all I want to know. Was there a good reason why you did it?" Snape looked at Harry and, for perhaps the first time since he'd known the boy, realized Harry had Lily's eyes. "Yes, Potter, there's a damn good reason and that whole ordeal was actually planned." He took a step past Harry and turned back. "If I manage to survive the war, Potter, I will answer any and all questions you may have." Harry nodded. 'Fair enough,' he thought.

Alex slipped into Mikey's tent, Harry behind him, to check on his cousin. Hermione was sitting next to him, running her fingers through the loose portion of his hair. He was sound asleep, his fingers clasped through hers.

"Alex, have you heard from Victoria? How is she?" Hermione softly asked.

"She's fine. She's safe. She's hidden, the way you should be, Granger." Alex replied. He inclined his head toward Mikey. "The whole time we've been chasing you three down, he's been worried sick over you, worried that you'd get caught by another gang." Hermione silently asked. "Any other gang caught you, Granger, the boys would already be dead or in Azkaban. You'd be turned into the camp trollop, so be glad we're the ones who actually caught you." Mikey shifted in his sleep, his hand blindly searching. When it hit Hermione's leg, he looped his arm around it and pulled her closer. She smiled down at him.


	9. the healing begins

The Healing begins

No money made.

Little bit of language here. Took a while to finish this one. Still isn't how I wanted it but its as good as its gonna be.

After Alex and Harry left, Hermione sat there, thinking. He'd been 'worried sick', according to Alex. She was 'lucky they were the ones who caught them'. If what Alex said was true, she'd probably be in hell right now if this were a different Snatcher group. She most certainly wouldn't be all but married to the leader. He'd told her sorry. Twice. That he hadn't intended her first time to be so rough. So he'd obviously had a different plan in mind, regarding her first time, and bad timing had blown it out of the water. That was ok, though, because now that she knew he intended to keep her even after the war was over, she was content to stay with him wherever they went. She traced the lines of his face. He was so handsome. She couldn't believe that it was HER he actually wanted to be with. But the ring on her finger didn't lie.

She accioed her purse from the table, not wanting him to move and rip his wound back open. Before they went on the run, she had owled McGonagall about the seventh year syllabus and had received not only the books themselves but also related literature that went along with the lessons. The woman knew her too well. She knew Hermione usually tried to have her books memorized by the time school started back. She hated missing her last year but Harry needed her, God only knows what would have happened to him had it been only him and Ron when Ron left. They certainly wouldn't have found or destroyed the locket.

Mikey stirred and rubbed his face on her leg. He looked up at her sleepily. She smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore, very sore. Did Bella actually stab me?!" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, she did. I think she was actually aiming for me, though." Hermione said.

"Number two on my must kill list." He said with a scowl.

"Number two, who's number one?" Hermione giggled.

"Old Pasty face is number one" he told her quite seriously.

She giggled again. She'd never heard Voldemort referred to like that before. "Does he know you call him that?"

"He should. The first meeting I went to after he marked me, I jumped at him and called him a pasty faced old bastard. Fenrir had to jump on me and pull Alpha rank to keep me down. Of course, then he used the Crucio to punish me." Mikey told her nonchalantly. She shook her head. If he acted anything like he had in school while in a death eater meeting, she could easily see him being punished quite often.

"Oh, Mikey, you have no filter, do you?" she looked down and played with the strand of red hair.

Mikey pulled her down beside him, into his arms. "My mum always told me I got it from Grandfather. My dad's the same way. He and mum fight like cats and dogs but they always make sure they don't go to bed angry at each other." He rolled onto his back, taking her with him.

"Be careful. You don't want to tear your side open again." Hermione worried. He chuckled softly. "It would take more than you weigh, darling, to pull this wound back open."

They fell asleep. Hermione woke up first. She checked his wound and was pleased to see no tearing or bleeding. She was sitting there, flipping through Hogwarts: A History when the tent flap opened, revealing Alex, Harry, Ron and Fenrir.

"How's the pup doing?" Fen asked quietly.

"He's doing good, so far. If I can convince him to stay down for at least today, he'll be doing even better." She replied. Alex snorted quietly "good luck with that." Harry laughed softly. At that moment, Mikey opened his eyes. He raised his head and looked around. "Bloody hell, what is this? The camp Common Room? What the hell is everyone crammed in here for?" he grumpily asked.

"Oh, dear. We seem to be a wee bit grumpy. Did we wake up on the wrong side of the bed, dear?" Hermione asked sweetly.

"No, we're not used to waking up with an audience." He started to sit up.

"Oh, no, you don't! You need to stay down, at least for today. You just got stabbed yesterday! You need to heal before you start moving around again." Hermione put her hand on his chest and held him down.

"Damned if I'll lay around like a dead cat! I got a job to do, Granger, let me up!" He glared at her.

"Here we go," Alex whispered, shaking his head. Fenirir had his hand held to his forehead.

Hermione glared back at him, "No! I'm not letting my first healing magic go to waste, it won't kill you to stay down for one day!"

"I. Am. Better, Granger! Let me up!" he gritted angrily.

"No!" She crawled over and sat down on his stomach. "If you can move me, I'll let you up! Otherwise, you are staying down."

They glared at each other angrily. Alex, Fenrir and Harry held their breath, just waiting to see if Mikey would actually throw Hermione off of him and get up, against her orders. Ron was hoping he would, just to show Hermione what a slime bag he really was.

To everyone's surprise, Mikey suddenly smiled up at Hermione. "Make you a deal, Granger, if I have to stay here all day, you have to stay with me, keep me from being bored." Caught off guard, Hermione blinked at him in confusion but quickly agreed.

She slid down to sit beside him and handed him a book. He looked at it. It was a Tranfiguration book. "What's this? Granger, are you doing homework? Blimey, girl, you're not even in school!"

"It doesn't matter if we're in school or not. I plan to go back and do my last year and you should, too. In the meantime, I'm staying caught up on the classwork." She said haughtily.

He began laughing. "Granger, seriously? You've been doing schoolwork all year?! If you want to go back to school after the war, that's fine with me. I can wait for you to graduate."

"Why don't you go back, too? We could study together, graduate together. You didn't do your last year, either." She pointed out.

"My Auror training WAS my last year, Granger." He said firmly.

"But you weren't even at school that year. Where were you, speaking of that, Victoria kept asking Alex in her letters and he wouldn't tell her." Hermione looked at him accusingly. Mikey sighed.

"We were overseas, going from country to country. We did quite a bit of training in France and Bulgaria. I can't remember where all we went but we did a sort of Grand tour thing. Everywhere we stopped, though, we'd either help with a case or do some kind of specialized training. By the time we both passed the course, we had 'Constant Vigilance' embedded in our brains, aye, Ally?" he laughed. Alex was nodding agreement.

Hermione remembered that from fourth year. She missed Moody, strange as it seemed. He may have been paranoid beyond all belief but his last plan had kept Harry alive until they were able to get him to the Burrow.

Harry cleared his throat and spoke up. "You know, Mikey-" Mikey looked at him sharply, "Um, I mean, Scabior, you're right. It is tight quarters in here. Our tent is quite a bit larger, if you and Hermione wanted to move over there. This tent is the perfect size for me and Ron." Ron jerked around and stared at him, open mouthed. 'Had he really just offered their comfy tent to this git?!'

Hermione gently took his eagle eyed focus off Harry and back to her. "You would have more room to spread out your maps and paperwork. You wouldn't even have to leave the tent to go eat. It has a kitchen AND a bathroom."

Mikey looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Then glanced around the crowded tent. 'It would be nice to have more room,' he smirked at Ron, 'and piss Ginger off!' "Okay, Potter, if you're sure about this, we'll trade tents." Harry smiled, he saw the look Scabior gave Ron and knew that was part of the reason he'd accepted the trade, the other reason being to please Hermione.

Harry could see that sooner or later, there was going to be a clash between those two. Hermione could see it, too. She knew Ron had thought he and her would end up together but that just wasn't going to happen. Now that she was bound to Mikey, it really wasn't going to happen. Ron would just have to deal with it and move on to someone else.

Since she wanted everyone to be comfortable, she told Mikey he could get up long enough to transfer to the other tent if he wanted to. With the help of Greyback and Alex, he got up and caught his balance, then started out of the tent. Outside, he was greeted by cheers and whistles from his men. He assured them that, first thing tomorrow morning, they would be heading out on a hunt. After he got inside the other tent, he was pleasantly surprised by how big it actually was.

Hermione combined two chairs into a sofa where he settled and pulled her down with him. As the rest of them settled into a semi-circle around them, she cleared her throat. "I actually have a reason for moving us all over here. We need to talk about Horcruxes. Since the three of you actually helped us, maybe you would like to help with our mission." She looked at Fenrir. As she'd overheard Mikey say, he'd been with Voldemort the longest, therefore he had the most to lose.

Fen considered her for a moment. "First of all, how did the three of you find out about these objects? Your source was reliable?"

Harry spoke up. "Dumbledore was the one who told me about them, at the start of our sixth year. I think both he and Snape knew about them. He destroyed one and it poisoned him. That, coupled with the fact that I helped him retrieve another (a locket) or so we thought, was enough to weaken him. The locket we retrieved was immersed in poison that could only be drunk in order to fetch it out of the bowl. It was also a fake but we didn't know that until later. I opened it and found a note. That poison mixed with the other and he was already half dead by the time we were back at Hogwarts. That's when Snape killed him."

"Umbridge had the real locket from Mundungus Fletcher who stole it from Kreacher. HE had it from the one who stole it originally but wasn't able to destroy it. I destroyed what we think may have been the first one in the Chamber of Secrets, Tom Riddle's diary. Now, though, the search has stalled." Harry told him in a quiet voice.

"Not really," said Hermione. "I know where a Horcrux is, I'm just not sure how we're going to get it. I was hoping our new friends could help us."

"You know where it is? I want to know what it is." Mikey said curiously.

"Harry was shown a memory of a cup, Hufflepuff's cup. I've been keeping track of them. Diary, ring, locket, Hufflepuff's cup, something of Ravenclaw's and Nagini, the snake he keeps with him. I'm fairly sure that's all of them but Harry would know more about that. He's the one Dumbledore assigned to hunting them." Hermione looked at Harry.

"Hufflepuff's cup, hmm? Alright, I'll bite. Where is it?" Mikey asked. Hermione laughed and shook her head. "Mikey, you already know! Its part of the reason you almost died!" he looked at her blankly. Hermione scoffed. "Bella, Mikey, remember, Bella made you ask me how I'd gotten the sword? She had you asking me how I'd gotten into her vault? What else I'd stolen from her? Don't you see? The cup is in her vault!"

"Ah, damnit! Seriously?! Well, no wonder you're still hunting them if they're all this hard to get to!" he sighed. "How the hell do we get it, then?" he mused, almost to himself.

"Reckon Lucius could help?" Alex spoke up slowly. "His vault should be right close to the LeStrange's vault. For that matter, Mikey, you and I both have vaults fairly near that one. As long as we can make it through the Thieves Downfall, going down and coming back, we could maybe snatch it." He grinned wickedly at Mikey. "I, for one, would love to get Bella into more trouble."

"Weelll, we ARE snatchers,," Mikey looked thoughtful. "But we don't know what it looks like. Potter does."

"You go, take Potter and I'll stay here with Greyback and guard camp. If anything goes wrong and all hell breaks loose, you're faster on your feet. You can fight your way out of anything. I tend to freeze and panic. Even Mad Eye knew better than to put me in charge of any rescues, remember?" Alex reminded him.

"Ok, but how do I slip Potter into Gringotts in the first place?" Mikey wondered.

"I could drink Polyjuice Potion. Hermione?" Harry knew she would know what to do. It was why they had made it as far as they had.

Hermione thought for a moment. "What's the Thieves Downfall?"

"An enchanted waterfall, Granger, anyone goes through it with intentions of stealing, it ejects them from the cart. That's over a hundred foot fall and it strips away any kind of glamour or disguise, including Polyjuice Potion." Alex said, looking at Harry.

"We won't need the Potion. We have something better. Harry?" she looked at him expectantly. He pulled the Invisibility Cloak out of his jacket pocket. "As long as you go through the Falls with no thoughts of stealing the cup, you can make it down. I'm not sure how to get you back up, though."

Alex suddenly grinned, then started laughing. "Care to share it, Ally, we need a good laugh here." Mikey huffed.

"Hey, Mikey, remember when you were little and asked your mum and dad for a dragon?" Alex cocked an eyebrow at his cousin. Mikey laughed and covered his face. "Yes, but why is that important?"

"There just so happens to be a dragon down there." Alex watched as Mikey perked up alertly.

"No! No! Mikey, you stay away from that dragon! I didn't heal you for you to go get yourself eaten by a dragon!" Hermione snapped, glaring at Alex for bringing up the dragon in the first place. He and Fenrir were laughing, Mikey had grabbed Harry for a demonstration of the Cloak. Hermione huffed. None of them were listening to her.

The rest of the day was spent with Hermione sulking as Mikey and Harry made up and discarded plan after plan for getting into Bella's vault the next day.

One by one, they left until it was just Mikey and Hermione. He slid over, grabbed her book and dropped it to the floor. He pulled her close to him and whispered, "Bedtime, sweetheart. Go on while I set some wards. I'll be in there shortly." Hermione nodded. She was suddenly overcome with uncertainty. She wasn't sure how to go about preparing to share a bed with him. Did she dress in her usual night clothes or would he expect her to be naked when he came back? She decided to play it safe. She put on an easily removed night shirt and climbed into bed.

While she was waiting, she got sleepier until she couldn't hold her eyes open any longer. By the time he entered the bedroom, she was sound asleep. He smiled, prepared for bed and laid down next to her. He tugged her into his arms and went to sleep.


	10. the wrath of voldemort

The Wrath of Voldemort

No money made.

Well, this was a twist even I didn't see but this is the way the story wanted to be told.

Trigger warnings: Torture, implied rape, language

She felt soft kisses all across her face. Fingers lightly stroked through her hair. She opened her eyes and smiled at him.

"Good morning, Beautiful" he whispered softly.

"That's my favorite kind of wake up call, " She whispered back, blushing shyly.

He smiled. "Well, I guess I need to wake you more like that, don't I?" he laughed as she giggled and hid her face.

Hermione didn't want to get up but she knew they had a big day ahead. Mikey and Harry were determined to somehow break into Bella's vault today and get Hufflepuff's cup. She needed to have all her healing supplies ready and waiting, in case it did turn into a fight for survival. Alex and Greyback were staying back to guard camp and keep an eye on her and Ron, mostly Ron. She wouldn't put it past the git to make another run for it.

Had she and Mikey known what was shortly to happen, they very well might have elected to stay in bed the rest of the day. It would be the last time they saw each other peacefully.

Alex and Fen were the first ones to show up for breakfast, then Harry and Ron. As usual, Ron was being an ass, demanding to know why he couldn't go and help retrieve the cup, wanting to know how Harry could trust Mikey, a Slytherin, to help him get the cup instead of taking him straight to You-know-who.

Finally Harry turned and told him flatly. "Hermione trusts him. That's enough for me. If she didn't think he could do it, I'd gladly take you along. But the less people we have with us, the easier it'll be to escape if the plan goes to hell, Ron!" Ron huffed angrily as he glared at Mikey.

Unaware of the death glare he was receiving, Mikey was pressed against Hermione as she was attempting to cook breakfast. Her concentration on breakfast wavered several times as he kept his arms around her waist and stole kisses every time she glanced at him. Breakfast ended up being burnt toast and runny eggs. As Ron opened his mouth to complain, Harry reached out and popped him on one side as Greyback smartly popped him on the other side. For once, Ron wisely took the hint to keep his damn mouth shut as he was being glared at from all sides.

Mikey was holding Hermione's chair for her when he suddenly gasped. Similar gasps showed both Alex and Greyback, clasping their left forearms. The Dark Mark was burning red, they were being Summoned. Mikey started screaming as his Mark suddenly began bleeding around the edges. Alex and Greyback looked at each other fearfully. He jumped away from the chair and Disapparated with no warning. They both groaned as they realized he hadn't even taken the time to properly finish dressing. His duster, vest, dress shirt and holster belt were still hanging on the chair, where he had put them after being transferred to this tent.

"Fen, go! You know what's going to happen! I'll follow you with his things, go!" Alex yelled as he jumped and gathered Mikey's clothing and holster belt. Fenrir jumped up and Disapparated.

"Alex?" Hermione cried fearfully. "What's happening?"

"The snake faced bastard is using the Cruciatus curse on Mikey through his Mark! The last time he did that, Mikey almost got himself killed trying to attack the Dark Lord! Fen had to pull Alpha Rank to keep his little arse down. I think the old bastard wants to kill him, he just won't admit it. He tortures him to within inches of dying, then leaves him to suffer. This isn't the first time, Granger, nor will it be the last time." Alex snarled angrily. Then he Disapparated.

Mikey Apparated into the main lobby of Malfoy Manor, stumbling as he landed. He shot up the stairs leading to the main dining Hall where the Death Eaters were gathered. Fen appeared a moment later and raced up behind him.

"You fucking, pasty faced bastard! You bloody wanker! You can't just send a normal party invite?! You gotta try and rip my fucking arm open?! Fuck you and your fucking Dark Mark!" Mikey screamed angrily as he jumped at Voldemort, who amazingly, laughed as the young werewolf lunged for his throat. Fen jumped on the boy a split second later. He grabbed the pup by the nape of the neck." DOWN, BOY, NOW!" he ordered. Mikey went limp and hung from Greyback's huge paw, immediately obeying his Alpha.

"Good, Greyback, you handled that perfectly. I'm pleased to see the boy so obedient. " Voldemort rasped. "Unfortunately, now I do have to punish him for his actions. You understand, Greyback, it won't do for him to go unpunished."

Fenrir reluctantly dropped the pup and stepped back, hating like hell that he couldn't stop what was about to happen. He'd actually volunteered to take the punishment before, only have Voldemort still turn around and torture the boy after lifting the Cruciatus from him.

The first curse hit Mikey and he started screaming, soon all the Death Eaters except for Fenrir, Snape and the Malfoys were throwing the torture curse. They were only throwing mild jinxes but they had to appear to be enjoying the torture session or it would be one of them, writhing in pain right beside the boy. Soon Dolohov began throwing cutting curses at him. Bella was breaking and resetting his fingers and arms only to break them again. Yaxley looked sick at the sight of his favorite young Snatcher, being mangled on the floor in front of him but still kept throwing milder hexes at the boy.

Soon Voldemort held up his hand, "Severus, check the boy." He said imperiously. Snape knelt down beside him. For Mikey's sake, he truly hoped the boy was dead. He'd already done this too many times in the past. Time and again, the boy's lycanthropy would keep healing him and the torture would resume. He honestly didn't know how the boy was still sane, as many times as he'd been subjected to the horrendous torure he received. But to his dismay, there was a pulse at the boy's wrist and he could see the cut marks already trying to heal themselves yet again.

He closed his eyes in despair. "Still alive, my Lord." Voldemort smiled in satisfaction. He walked over and revived the boy. He helped him to his feet. "Greyback, McKeon, take the boy back to his camp."

He looked at Mikey closely. Mikey's eyes were half opened and he watched Voldemort's wand warily.

"Tell me, do you still have the little mudblood Bella tried to kill?" Voldemort asked softly. Unthinkingly, Mikey nodded. The Dark Lord smiled maliciously. Mikey was still watching the wand and saw it flick at him. He flinched back, expecting the Cruciatus, and was totally blindsided by the Imperious curse. As he realized what had happened, he tried to fight it.

"Imperio" Voldemort repeated as he pointed his wand at the boy. "Legilimens!" Greyback and Alex paled, realizing the Dark Lord was about to find out they were planning to steal a Horcrux, unable to stop him.

'Hermione was giggling, paying more attention to him than the frying pan. Hermione was nervous about sharing a bed with him. Hermione was lecturing him to go back to school with her after the war. Hermione was screaming in fear as he twisted her hair around his fist. Hermione was stumbling away from him before turning to run away. ' At that point, Mikey felt the dark Lord exit his mind. He fell to his knees, thankful that he'd managed to put up enough of a barrier to protect Potter anyway.

"Imperio" Voldemort intoned again. "Stand up, pup. Look your Master in the eye." Mikey shakily stood up under his own power and looked at the Dark Lord. Once more, a whispered "Legilimens" and his mind was again invaded. The memories the Dark lord had just inspected were gathered and placed in a box. "Obliviate." The memory of first seeing her poster was obliviated. Every memory Mikey had of Hermione from now all the way back to that first meeting on the train were captured, hidden and obliviated by Voldemort.

Then he began to place false memories into the boys mind. 'Capturing Hermione, shoving her roughly into the tree, yanking her hair when she tried to lie to him, slapping her as she tried to escape his grip. Throwing her down onto the bed, ripping her clothes off, holding her down as he forced his way into her body, hearing her screaming and begging him to stop, choking her into unconsciousness when he was tired of hearing her whiny voice.'

Voldemort stepped back as he withdrew from the boys mind again. "Imperio. You have done well, my child. You've broken the mudblood. Keep her broken. Go back and break her some more. Make sure she bends to your will always. " He leaned closer. "Sterilize the mudblood. Make sure she can't spread any of her filth into the rest of your life. Imperio." He stepped away from the boy.

Snape and the Malfoys were horrified to watch the boy being Imperio'd four times in as many minutes. That many times could seriously impair the boys mind, even after the curse was lifted. The boy stood with heavily glazed eyes and simply replied. 'Yes Master.

Voldemort walked away, then turned. "Imperio. Scabior, what are your instructions? Repeat them to me, please."

"Go back to camp, keep breaking the mudblood, sterilize the mudblood to prevent her filth being spread. Keep the mudblood broken." Mikey replied woodenly. Narcissa Malfoy turned and leaned against Lucius, weeping quietly at what was to be Hermione's fate at Mikey's hands.

"Take him, Greyback, watch him closely. Make sure he follows his orders, to the letter. If he doesn't,,well,, I might not be as inclined to let him live any more." Voldemort ordered the older werewolf. Greyback bowed his head. He and Alex grabbed each of Mikey's arms and led him down the stairs.

Once they were outside the Mansion, he quietly hissed at Alex that Potter and Weasley had to be taken from camp right now. If the Dark Lord had seen those two, in Mikey's mind, Greyback had no doubt at all that the half dead pup he was toting now would have been a totally dead pup. He had no clue how the boy had managed to hide them but he was glad it had worked, especially with the boy being under the Imperio.

Alex Disapparated. Greyback took a few moments to both compose himself and secure the boy closer to him.

Alex Apparated into the camp and ran to the tent. "Potter, Weasley, grab all your belongings, you have to leave, NOW!" He yelled. The trio were still in the breakfast nook. It was evident that Harry and Hermione had been pacing back and forth, waiting on them.

Without a word, Harry jumped up and ran to gather their belongings. Ron was trying to convince Hermione to go with them. "Granger stays, Weasley, if He finds out she escaped, even 'accidently', it'll be Mikey's death and I do not want to attend the funeral of my favorite cousin." He grabbed Harry's arm. "We'll find a way to help you, Potter, I don't know how, at the moment but we will help you." Harry nodded and grabbed Ron's arm. Ron kept arguing and protesting about leaving Hermione behind. Alex watched and didn't relax until they were completely beyond the wards set on the camp.

Alex steeled himself. But before he could even turn to warn Hermione, Greyback popped into sight, holding Mikey tightly against him. They had taken no more than a dozen steps to the tent when Voldemort, himself, along with his Inner Circle of Death Eaters, popped into sight as well. Alex whipped around, grabbed Hermione, "whispered don't fight" and turned back, going to one knee and forcing her down with him. All the snatchers dropped to one knee.

Voldemort caught up to Mikey and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Imperio, Scabior, introduce me to the lovely young Mudblood you have caught. Was she alone or in a group?"

"Alone, master, all alone. She tried to lie about her blood status. Tried to trick me, master, make me think she was a halfblood." Greyback flicked an eyebrow up in surprise. The boy was heavily imperio'd but was still managing to protect the trio.

They came to Alex and Hermione. She didn't even have to fake her fear of the Dark Lord. She suddenly knew something awful had happened and it involved both her and Mikey. She stared pleadingly at him. Even she could see his eyes were glazed over.

"Imperio," Voldemort pushed him towards the girl. "Scabior, take her to the bedroom, now. Sterilize her. Let her know who her master is." He smiled in malicious pleasure at the look of fear that suddenly crossed the girl's face.

Scabior grabbed her arm and yanked her up. As Alex slowly stood, he watched as his cousin shoved his wand at the girl and hissed a curse, too low for Voldemort to hear. His eyes widened, Mikey hadn't sterilized her, he'd hissed a contraception spell. A small smile played at the corners of his mouth, his baby cousin was a fighter, all right.

Scabior pulled Hermione into their bedroom, screaming and fighting. He threw her down and yanked the curtain shut. He jumped onto the bed and grabbed her as she tried to scramble off the other side. He pushed her down and wandlessly removed both their clothes. "Make it sound real or we both DIE, tonight!" she looked at him, his eyes were still glazed but that hadn't been Scabior the rapist, that had been her Mikey. He was still there, still trying to fight, she nodded. She would do her part. He grabbed her hair and twisted. Right on cue, she started screaming and begging him not to hurt her.

Outside the bedroom, Voldemort and most of his court laughed. "Nooo, please, no, stop it! Stop hurting me, please! I want to go home, please, don't hurt me! Stop hurting me! Help! Help me! Someone, please, help me! Somebody,ple,,,,! At the sudden silence, they knew Scabior had choked the girl into shutting the hell up. Alex and Greyback stood, back to back, in front of the Snatchers, all of whom knew their leader's life had been saved by the girl he was now raping.

The silence went on for a few minutes longer, then Scabior came swaggering out. He turned back at the door. "And don't bother trying repair those clothes, mudblood, or I'll be tearing them right back offa ya!" he walked over and knelt in front of the Dark Lord, bowing his head. "Master, she's broken. What should I do with her now?"

"We need two fighters back. The Order of the Phoenix has them hidden away. Rowle and Avery. Yaxley informs me that Alastair Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt and who else was it, Yaxley?" Voldemort turned to include Yaxley in the conversation. "Tonks, my lord, Nymphadora Tonks."

"Yes, Tonks, I believe you know all three?" he questioned Scabior, who nodded. He was familiar with two of them, the third had been his mentor. "Send Mr. Shacklebolt a message. Tell him we have Potter's little Mudblood, he can have her back if he gives us Rowle and Avery. Otherwise, you will take the Mudblood into Diagon Alley, strip her naked and kill her in the street outside the joke shop of the Fucking Weasley twins." Voldemort watched the boy's eyes closely. He never blinked, simply nodded.

He flung his wand and a Patronus wolf disappeared through the wards on his camp. "Master, may I go back and punish the Mudblood until we have news?" Voldemort smiled. The child was definitely his favorite pet. He knew he'd chosen well when he decided to add these boys to his Ranks.

At Shell Cottage, the Order was organizing for an attack. Harry and Ron had suddenly shown up with a wild tale of being caught by Snatchers and receiving help from them. Then suddenly having to leave but they were unable to bring Hermione or the leader would die. After hearing the names, Shacklebolt had given a sudden belly laugh. He knew exactly who they were talking about. The boy was a feisty one, Merlin help the Dark Lord, that one would never bow down before him, not willingly at any rate. They were organizing teams when a wolf Patronus suddenly bounded in, going directly to Shacklebolt.

"Release Rowle and Avery or Potter's Mudblood bitch dies, naked and alone in Diagon Alley! We await your response." The normally blurry message sounded even more blurry than usual. Was the boy drunk? Then it hit Shacklebolt. Imperio! The boy was imperio'd! That's why he sounded more blurry than normal!

Ron started screaming at Harry. "I knew it, I knew he was a slime bag but you never listen to me. 'Hermione trusts him, so I trust him.' Now Hermione is going to die and it's our fault for leaving her back there!" Harry looked sick. "We'll get her back, Ron. Just calm down, we'll get her back!"

Kingsley sent a message back. The meeting was set up.

At the appointed time, Scabior grabbed Hermione's arm and yanked her off the bed. He repaired her clothes and pulled her out of the bedroom. Voldemort turned to her. Seeing her tearstained face, he tutted. "Don't worry, my child, your rescuers are on their way. They should be here anytime now."

At Voldemort's signal, Scabior raised his wand and dropped the wards on his camp. Outside facing them was the Order of the Phoenix. In front stood Shacklebolt, holding Rowle and Avery each by an arm. Scabior swaggered across as he tugged Hermione behind him. Rowle and Avery were shoved across the line to Scabior as Hermione was shoved into Shacklebolt's arms. Scabior bowed his head, grinning mockingly. Shacklebolt could clearly see the heavily glazed eyes. The boy was definitely imperio'd. he walked back to his camp. Hermione began sobbing as the wards went back up, blocking her last view of him.


	11. the aftermath

The Aftermath

Triggers: language as always, another rape implied, not sure if the legilimens would count as torture but just in case.

No money made.

Shacklebolt held Hermione close as she cried. Reaching her hand back, she strained to break away and run after Scabior. She just knew if she didn't try, it'd be the last time she ever saw him alive again. She knew the wards wouldn't stop her because she still wore his ring. She went limp and, as Shacklebolt loosened his grip on her, she suddenly broke away and darted back through the wards. As she suspected, she passed through unharmed.

"Scabior, please, I want to stay with you, please, don't send me away!" she cried, running after him. He turned and she ran into his arms, holding him tightly. Voldemort drifted over to them.

"Scabior, what seems to be the problem? Hmm?" he asked.

"The Mudblood, master, she doesn't want to go, she wants to stay here, with me." Scabior said, sounding genuinely surprised.

Voldemort considered the girl. She stared at him fearfully. Then she bravely stepped forward. "Please, let me stay with him. I'll do anything." Impulsively, she held out her left arm. "I'll take the Dark Mark. Just please don't make me leave him."

Voldemort reached out and took her arm. Then, "legilimens," he was suddenly in her head. As he had with Scabior, he looked at the memories she had of him. Even after the rape, the girl still wanted to stay. She actually felt safe with the boy. He took all those memories and locked them away from her. He found her school memories of him and locked those away also. He knew when he released her that she wouldn't have an idea who the boy was. He left her mind and prepared to watch her panic.

Hermione went to her knees after he released her. She looked around. Where was she? Where were Harry and Ron? Why was everyone staring at her? Then she looked up and saw the bald, noseless man looking down at her. She screamed and jumped backwards, right into a hard body behind her. She whipped around and saw a young man, not much older than her, staring at her curiously. He had clear blue kohl rimmed eyes and was dressed as a Snatcher. 'Oh, god, they caught us! Where are Harry and Ron, damnit!' she prepared to run, then she heard, "Scabior, apparently the Mudblood needs another lesson in manners. Take her back to the bedroom and break her some more." The youngster grabbed her arm and she went wild, kicking, screaming, fighting with every ounce of energy she had. She'd heard tales of what happened to girls caught by the Snatchers. He might overpower her but damned if she was going down quietly! It didn't seem to matter, he simply picked her up in his arms and toted her off to his tent. He took her to the curtained bedroom and threw her down on the bed. As she tried to scramble away, he caught her.

"Why did you come back in here?! Damnit! You were safe out there! Now, I'm going to have to really hurt you!" he snarled angrily in a very low whisper.

"What? What are you talking about? I don't know you! I've never been here! Please, let me go!" she begged.

"Shut it, Mudblood!" he yelled as he ripped her shirt open. She screamed and tried to push him away.

"You. Were. Safe! Why did you come back? Why?" he growled. "You'll be lucky to make it out alive this time!" as he questioned her, his hands were roamimg over her torso. She started crying. She suddenly figured out that she had made some kind of mistake, she wasn't sure what she'd done, but it wasn't good. She was about to pay the price of it. She screamed as he lunged forward and bit her on the side of the neck. While she was distracted, he removed his clothes and the rest of hers. He pulled her legs apart and joined them before she could stop him. It was fast and rough, she knew she'd be sore for days.

"Maybe this time, you'll listen and stay the hell back, Mudblood! Don't follow me back in here! I'm trying to save your life, damnit!" he pulled out, jumped up and dressed again before waving his wand. Her clothes mended and covered her once more. He grabbed her arm and pulled the sobbing girl out of the bedroom, across the camp and back through the wards. He slung her roughly at Shacklebolt.

"Keep a better hold of your Mudblood! Next time she runs back in there, I'll bring her naked, dead body to you!" he snarled. Then he turned and again went back to his camp. This time, Hermione made no attempt to follow him. She simply hung limply from Shaklebolt's arms, crying. Lupin and Tonks were with him. They huddled around her, trying to calm her down before taking her back to Shell Cottage.

Kingsley shared quietly, so Hermione couldn't hear it over her sobs, his belief that the young man they had seen manhandling Hermione was actually so imperio'd, he wasn't aware of his own rough actions. They agreed, surprisingly. They had both seen his heavily glazed eyes as well. The actions they had seen didn't jibe at all with the tender treatment Harry had described.

But it also didn't explain why Hermione was suddenly so scared that the young man was going to come back out and hurt her again. She didn't even seem to remember him at all. It was like she'd been obliviated.

They stopped talking and looked at each other in horror. They knew Voldemort was in the camp. Was it possible that he had obliviated Hermione's memories of the boy?! They suddenly knew that's what had happened. They agreed to keep the information between the three of them. They had a bad feeling that if Voldemort so much as suspected either Mikey or Hermione remembered one another, it would mean the young man's death which, in turn, would devastate the young woman in their arms.

They Apparated back to Shell Cottage and rushed Hermione upstairs, putting her to bed before Harry or Ron could see her. They told them she needed to rest for a few days before they bothered her. Harry and Ron reluctantly agreed to wait a week before they tried to talk to her. Harry knew she would be heartbroken over having to leave Mikey. Ron hoped to have another chance with her now that the Snatcher was out of the way.

Back at the camp, Scabior was walking back to his tent. He didn't really remember having this big of a tent but maybe he'd taken it from someone they had Snatched and sent to Azkaban. He went back to the curtained bedroom. He was tired and figured it was a combination of a rough hunt and breaking the little mudblood girl. He stopped short. Bellatrix was laying across his bed. Suddenly, he didn't feel like laying down anymore. She motioned him over. He warily sat on the side of the bed.

"What's the matter, darling? Are you missing the little mudblood?" She whispered. He shook his head. He was very relieved the girl was gone but he couldn't remember why he felt so good about it. She sat up and reached out to him.

"Lay down, sweetheart, you've worked so hard today. You must be exhausted. I'll let you know if our Lord needs to see you." Scabior warily laid down next to her. She laid back down and pillowed her head on his shoulder. "My husband was killed a while back, in a fight against the Order. The Dark Lord has been thinking of replacing him with another. He mentioned you last night. When he wins, he is thinking of an arrangement between you and I. it would be a good match." Scabior jerked away and stared at her. Bellatrix rushed to reassure him. "Oh, sweetie, don't worry, it won't happen until we've won and everything has settled back down. I was just letting you know so it wouldn't be such a surprise for you." She laid her head back down on the young man's shoulder, forcing him to lay back down. Scabior stared, wide eyed, up at the ceiling of the tent. 'Great, like he didn't have enough to worry about.' He had only burry memories of the last couple of hours, here in camp. He felt as though he were missing something important but it had to be his imagination. He realized he hadn't seen Greyback or Alex in a while. He wondered if Bella knew anything about that.

"Where are Fen and Alex? Normally, they stay right here in my tent, I haven't seen them since I kicked the mudblood out." he said, just to see if Bella would even answer him.

"You'll see them soon, darling, they had to speak to the Dark Lord." Bella had an arm laid across his torso and the other coiled around his left arm, her fingers toying with the bandanna that proclaimed him a Snatcher. She didn't tell him but she was looking forward to the end of the war. It'd been far too long since she and Rodolphus had shared a bed and she was eager to be properly bedded again. She'd heard tales of this particular young Snatcher's stamina and prowess while he was still a student. She was fascinated and couldn't wait to see if he lived up to the hype or if all the tales had simply been rumors.

Outside the tent, Voldemort was busy. He knew, as restless as the boy always was, Bella wouldn't keep him distracted for long. He had found the snatchers who were truly loyal to the boy and those who couldn't care less who led them. The true followers were separated and tied down to stakes in a rough semi-circle around the outer edge of the tent. These included Alex and Greyback.

When Scabior got restless, sat up and walked out of the tent, he was met with the sight of a dozen of his men tied down, including his cousin and uncle. He froze as the Dark Lord came to stand next to him. "Obey me, without question or protest, child, or they all die. They are to ensure your good behavior. Walk with me, child." He led the way on a winding path through the camp. "I have decided to name an heir. I have a fairly large fortune but no children to leave it to. I wish to name you as my heir. Of course, you will need a pureblood bride. You and Bellatrix will be joined the day after we win. Any children you have be automatically be recognized as my heirs, through you. What say you, boy?"

"It's a great honour, master, are you sure I'm worthy of it? Wouldn't it make more sense to name someone who has been with you longer? I've only recently been included into your circle." Scabior murmured quietly. His mind was racing, 'what to do, what to do!' "Master, I've been disowned and disinherited by my family. Pureblood girls expect presents, master, I have nothing to buy her anything with." He remembered a few pureblood courting traditions he'd heard his family talking about.

"You will not need to buy anything, child. You are not courting Bella, she is courting you. She will present you with presents, my boy." Unnoticed by Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy had begun strolling with them.

"Well, then. She'll need to find some things rare and unique, just like me." Scabior smiled arrogantly. Lucius concealed a small smile. "Lucius knows what I like. He can help her pick me some stuff out."

Voldemort threw his head back and laughed. The more he was around this boy, the more he liked him. It was like having Regulus Black back by his side. Black had been a disappointment, this boy would not be. "Lucuis, take Bella and escort her to Gringotts. I have the perfect item for my heir. Then I need you to pay a visit to Severus. He'll know where she can get another object for him. We must keep the boy happy."

Lucius raised a brow and looked behind Voldemort to Scabior. Scabior nodded slightly at him. He could hardly wait for the outcome. 'This boy was playing the Dark lord to perfection.' As he followed Bella from the camp, he realized the boy had a two-fold purpose for demanding gifts. One, they showed Bella he was more important than she was. Two, they got her out of his camp.

He and Bella went to Gringotts and took the little trolley down. She tried to resist getting the Hufflepuff cup but Lucius cut her off by reminding her that the Dark Lord, himself, had decided that was what he wanted her to present to the boy. After they left, she visited with Narcissa and Draco while Lucius went to Hogwarts. He and Snape quickly found the little diadem. They marveled at how easily the boy had fooled the Dark Lord, even under the Imperio. Lucius returned to the Manor and he and Bella returned to the boy's camp.

Scabior was ordered by the Dark lord to just relax, don't worry about hunting or anything. He needed to conserve his energy for the Battle. So Scabior did exactly that: nothing. He went out, conjured a chair and sat roughly near his cousin and uncle. There, he began drinking bottle after bottle of firewhiskey. He stared into space as well. If Alex had to bet on it, he could almost guarantee his cousin was staring at the last place he'd seen Granger. He pitched his voice low enough to not call attention to it but loud enough that he could tell them the plans the dark lord had for him.

He went back to his tent when beckoned. Presented with the Hufflepuff cup and the diadem, he made a show of displaying them proudly on his wall. Then he and Bella were told to clasp hands. Bella had to make a Vow to him.

"I, Bellatrix Lestrange, promise to enter a marriage agreement with Michael Scabior the third. I promise to deliver at least one heir to carry on his family bloodline. I promise to be available to him, day or night, whenever, wherever, however, he wants me." She smiled at him as she said the last vow. Inwardly, he cringed at the thought. At last it was done. Thank Merlin, she wasn't spending the night here. He'd never keep her out of his bed.

Afterwards, alone in his tent, he cast a silent spell, then walked over to where he had turned the little girl free at. He whistled a hawk out of a tree and tied a package to its leg. He spoke two words. "Kingsley Shacklebolt." Then he went back inside the wards, sat down and continued to drink.

At Shell Cottage, Shacklebolt was speaking to the Order. "He will have to make a move soon. We recieved word that Lucius Malfoy was seen at Hogwarts yesterday."

A hawk swooped in the window and began circling the Auror. He took the package. The hawk didn't wait for an answer but left right away. Kinsley opened the package and spilt it across the table. It was a cup, a diadem, and a letter. Harry, drinking a cup of pumpkin juice, spat it out in surprise. Kingsley picked up the letter. All it said was "Potter can't say I didn't keep my word. I promised to help him. The rest is up to him." There was no signature but Harry knew who had sent this all important package. Either Scabior, Alex or Fen had gotten their hands on two more Horcruxes. Now, all he had to do was destroy them. That left the snake. She would die at the Final Battle when he and Voldemort faced each other.

He asked Shacklebolt if they could see Hermione now. Kingsley reluctantly agreed but cautioned him not to say who had sent the package nor mention the camp they had so recently been ejected from. 'In other words', Harry realized, 'do not mention Scabior's name around Hermione.'

She had only just started coming down to eat with them. She was moving gingerly. He hated seeing her in pain and he hated the boy who had caused that pain. He'd thought the boy loved her, but then why would he turn around and hurt her so badly? he knocked gently on her door. He could hear her crying again. How he wished that boy was here in front of him! He might get his ass handed to him but he'd make damn sure he got in some good licks, too!


	12. the battle of hogwarts

The Battle of Hogwarts

No money made

In my summary, I said this was an AU story. This is something I've gone back and forth on all through the story, should I or shouldn't I? So I've finally chosen which path I want to go and, to that end, I've decided that Harry is NOT a Horcrux in this story. When you read this chapter, you'll understand why I chose not to make him one. It would have required a re-write and I've had enough of a struggle just to get the past couple of chapters wrote.

Threatened with marriage to Bellatrix Lestrange, how will our little Slytherin get out of this? Read on, and you shall see.

He'd been steadily drinking for hours. As he sat there, he became aware of a shadow falling over him. It turned out to be the Dark Lord, Bellatrix and Lucius Malfoy. Malfoy very slightly shook his head and mouthed "no" silently at the boy.

"Scabior, Bellatrix would like to be joined in matrimony with you tonight. What say you, child?" Voldemort could almost have told Bella, beforehand, that the boy would refuse but he just wanted to enjoy watching him dare to say no to her.

Scabior lazily turned to Bella. "No! I got one more day of freedom, you'll not take it away from me! He told me day after he wins. They been no fight yet! I got whiskey to drink, we get there tomorrow, I'm gonna jump every little girl I see! One more day, just to do what I want before I'm chained up!"

Bella's face darkened with rage. Voldemort chuckled at her reaction. "The boy needs his freedom, Bella. Don't try to tie him down. That's what leads to betrayal. He knows what betrayal will get him." Voldemort glanced meaningfully at Scabior's men, tied down and helpless.

Scabior glanced at his men as well. "Master, will my men be allowed to go to the Battle with us? They want to see you kick Potter's ass, too. After that, no doubt, some of the rebels will try to run. I'll need my boys if we're to run them down and bring them back to you."

Voldemort nodded. "Good point, pet. Yes, they will go with us. We will need them." He turned, took Bella by the arm and Disapparated. Malfoy patted his shoulder approvingly. The boy was finally learning the right way to answer and not incur punishment. He Disapparated back to his Manor.

Scabior looked at Alex and Fen. "I'm sorry I can't let any of you loose yet. I'm trying, it's so hard to fight it. I'm trying my best, though."

Fen knew how hard it was to fight the Imperio, especially as many times in a row as Mikey had been struck with it. He'd only been Imperio'd a couple of times but he'd never had it thrown at him so many times in just minutes. It was no wonder the boy was struggling. Like Snape and the Malfoys, he thought it was a wonder it hadn't already driven the boy insane.

They quietly talked to the boy, keeping him calmed down and trying to help him stay focused on the mission.

The next day, the Dark Lord was back, his full Inner Circle with him. Nagini beside him. Before they left for Hogwarts, he pulled Scabior slightly away. He conjured a magical cube and attached it to Scabior's left wrist. The spell was centered directly on the Dark Mark. He put Nagini into the cube. "You must keep her safe, Scabior. Let nothing happen to her. If she dies, you die." He pointed his wand at Scabior's Dark Mark and sent a Cruciatus curse through it. He watched as the boy dropped, screaming in pain. While he held the cruciatus on him, he wrenched the boy's face towards him. "Legilimens." He entered the boy's mind and gathered all his memories, all the way back to his childhood. He stopped when he reached a specific memory. The memory of Scabior and Alex's sisters being killed. The moment before the curses flew, when Bella and Antonin Dolohov tried to lure the boys away without a fight. Voldemort whispered a spell, then, "If Nagini dies, Obliviate!" Scabior was in so much pain, he barely understood what had just been done. But he knew if the snake died, he might as well die too. Her death would effectively wipe his mind clean. There would be no coming back from that.

Before the Dark Lord exited the boy's mind, he whispered, "Imperio. Protect yourself, protect Nagini. Protect yourself, protect Nagini. Imperio." He withdraw from the boy's mind and released him from the cruciatus at the same time. He watched as the young man lay breathless on the ground. "Scabior, what are your orders for the battle?"

The boy's heavily glazed eyes stared up at him. "Protect myself. Protect Nagini. Protect myself, Protect Nagini."

"That's right, pet. If Nagini dies, you die." Voldemort pulled the young man to his feet. "Imperio, what happens if she dies?"

"If Nagini dies, I die." Scabior repeated dutifully.

Alex was in such a rage, Fenrir knew he'd have to pull Alpha rank on him as soon as they were released or Alex would be trying to attack the Dark Lord next. One pup was hard enough to control. Although, it was starting to look more and more like Voldemort had realized how to gain control of Scabior. Suddenly, Voldemort swung around. With a single curse, Alex, Fenrir and both Goyles were struck with the cruciatus. As they were writhing in pain, he threw an Imperio at all of them. With a cruel smile, he let them up.

Their bonds were cut loose and they were ordered to gather behind Scabior. He watched, satisfied, as they obediently fell in line behind the boy.

"Onward, to Hogwarts!" the crowd of Snatchers and Death Eaters Disapparated and reappeared on the hill overlooking Hogwarts castle. They looked on as the castle defenders raised the shields against them.

At Hogwarts, Snape had just been confronted and chased out by McGonagall. Harry longed to tell her Snape was still on their side but that would blow Snape's cover. He, Ron and Hermione ran to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and slid down the passageway. They ran through the tunnel to the Chamber of secrets. They had to destroy the Horcruxes before Voldemort ordered the attack to begin.

"Harry, how exactly did you get these? You never did explain." Hermione asked.

Harry and Ron exchanged glances. They still didn't mention Scabior's name around her. They were waiting to see if she actually mentioned him first.

"We had help" Harry explained, "from an, um, unexpected source."

"It was Snape, wasn't it? See, I told you he was on our side! You didn't believe me!" she exclaimed triumphantly. Harry decided to go along with that idea because Snape actually had helped them, to a degree. That way, she could have her moment of victory and he still didn't have to upset her by mentioning THAT name.

"Yeah, you were right. Snape helped, ok, I was wrong and you were right." Harry admitted.

They were so busy trying to figure out who was going to destroy the Horcruxes this time, they didn't know they had been followed.

"Potter, hurry up with that!" they whirled around. There stood Malfoy, who had Goyle and Zabini with him. "The Dark Lord is on that hill. He's going to order an attack any moment." Malfoy waved his arm vaguely to his left. He, Goyle and Zabini appeared to be setting themselves as lookouts because they turned their backs to the Trio.

"Harry, get a fang from the basilisk!" Hermione urged. Harry ran over to the skeleton. Careful to not pierce himself, he brought the fang back. They quickly destroyed them and the six of them made their way back out of the chamber. Malfoy dropped back to talk to Harry.

"Does she remember him?" Malfoy asked, watching Hermione.

"No, she doesn't and I hope she never does. She has yet to mention him at all. If he was here, I'd kill his bloody ass. She had nightmares the whole time after Kingsley brought her away from him." Harry knew Malfoy was talking about Scabior.

"It wasn't his fault, whatever happened between them, Potter. He was Imperio'd. I was there, Potter, I saw it happen. One imperio is bad enough. Getting hit by four in as many minutes, it's a wonder his mind didn't shatter right there, not to mention he'd just been crucioed, cut and had his bones broken for a solid hour before that! He was almost dead, Potter, he could barely stand under his own power!" Malfoy needed to make sure Harry knew what had happened to his cousin. He knew, if there was any way of it happening, his father fully intended to free Scabior's memories of Granger. They had to stand and watch as Voldemort attached a memory charm to Scabior that would effectively wipe out his whole life. He would be lucky to remember his own name, much less his family and friends.

"He loves Granger, he sat there and drank from the time he gave her to Shacklebolt until the time he was cursed by the Dark Lord, Potter. Please, you can't keep her away from him! He needs her!" he argued with the stubborn boy.

Harry shook his head. "If he loved her, why did he do that to her?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Potter, did you NOT hear me say that wasn't his fault? The Imperio, Potter, he was under the Imperio!"

Harry thought it over. He remembered being put under the Imperio his fourth year. Maybe Malfoy was right. Maybe Scabior hadn't been operating in his own mind. Alex had certainly been in enough of a panic to get them out of the camp before Scabior and Greyback had made it back.

"So, why are you here, Malfoy?" he finally asked.

"I'm making sure you did what you told Alex and Fen you could do. My parents are still out there, Alex and Fen are still out there. Alex, Fen, Mikey and Goyles older brothers are all under the Imperio, Potter. They will be fighting against their will. You need to make sure your Order knows that." Malfoy knew the Dark Lord could discover his absence at any time. When he did, his parents would be punished for his own defiance. If he was gonna fight for the wrong side, he might as well make it worth the cost.

Just as they made it back to the bathroom, they heard the first boom as Voldemort's forces began trying to break down the wards set around the castle. They raced downstairs in time to hear McGonagall tell Neville and Seamus to blow up the wooden bridge, leading in from Hogsmeade.

Across the way, they could see the hill Malfoy had indicated. It was black with Death Eaters. Harry got his omnioculars from Hermione. He looked and saw Scabior standing behind Voldemort. He couldn't zoom him in enough to see if he was actually under the Imperio. Just then, the dark lord moved and he saw something which stunned him. The Snatcher had a magical cube hanging from his wrist. It held Nagini. He looked at Malfoy and held his left hand up. Malfoy nodded.

Hermione grabbed the omnioculars from Harry. "Can you see the snake, Harry?" Harry tried to stop her from looking but it was too late. She gasped as she saw Scabior. He was standing there, with his head down, maybe looking at Nagini or just the ground. Almost as if he could feel her looking at him, he raised his head, looked across the ravine and seemed to smile right at her. She watched in horror as Bella strode up behind him, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the jaw. He made no attempt to move away nor duck her advances. She pulled his hair out of its tightly controlled ponytail. She pressed against his right side and slid her hand into his hair. He never moved a muscle but continued to stare across the way.

"Harry, he's here, with Voldemort! Scabior's here, Harry, what am I going to do? He's going to hurt me again!" Hermione panicked as she turned to Harry. Harry looked at Malfoy and raised an eyebrow, pointing at Hermione as if to say, 'See!'

Malfoy stared at Granger. "He's not going to hurt you, Grangeer, he never wanted to hurt you. He's been Imperio'd, Granger!"

Hermione looked at Malfoy, almost as if she'd forgotten he was there. "What? What do you mean, Imperio'd? There was nobody controlling him, it was just him in there with me! You weren't there!" she screamed at him.

"Actually, Granger, I was there, not in his camp but at our Manor, I watched him get tortured, cut, bones broken and then slapped with four imperio's in a row! Yes, he is Imperio'd but I don't know why I'm even bothering to tell you! I thought you loved him as well but I see that I was wrong. Maybe Bella does care more than you do! He might be better off with her!" Malfoy screamed angrily. He turned to leave.

"Bella?" asked Harry. "What does Bella have to do with anything?"

"If the Dark Lord wins today, Mikey gets to drink as much as he can and shag as many girls as he wants to, because tomorrow he will be forced into marriage with Bella. She asked the Dark Lord for him." Malfoy watched Hermione as he answered Harry. Her eyes widened. She began hyperventilating.

"W-what? He can't, h-he, Harry, he can't! he's supposed to wait for me, he told me he would, Harry, he can't marry Bella, you can't let him!" Hermione sank to her knees, sobbing.

All five boys were astounded. They'd never seen her fall apart before.

"Goyle, Zabini, get back to the dungeons. Keep our class away, they'll try to grab Potter. Potter, I'd suggest you start brushing up on curses and dueling. He won't wait forever. I have to get back before he knows I'm missing. You might want to put her away somewhere if she's unable to fight. He'll be sending Mikey, Alex, Fen and the others in on the first attack. I don't know about the rest of them but she will Mikey's primary target." Malfoy hated to be the bearer of bad news but they had to know.

A sudden crash let them know the wards had broken. They looked up as the heard the unmistakable sounds of Apparation. Death Eaters began dueling with the Order, Aurors, teachers and students alike. They watched as Alex, Fen, John and Jeff Goyle appeared. They all had glazed looks on their faces. Harry and Ron shot unobtrusive stunners at the four of them, knocking them out before they ever lifted a wand. The slytherins slipped away in the fight. As Harry led Ron and Hermione down the stairs, they heard a shout.

"Get Potter, there he is." Harry jumped away from Yaxley and slung him into the wall with a reducto. They ran down as fast as they could. As they reached the main floor, Hermione screamed. There stood Scabior, not moving, just watching for her. He slowly began stalking her. She ran down the hall.

"Hermione!" Harry shouted. He shot curses at the Snatcher. He deflected them effortlessly. That's when Harry remembered, Scabior might be a Snatcher but he was also a fully trained Auror. He stayed between Scabior and Hermione all the way down the hall. She ducked into an empty classroom. Harry and Ron followed her in, fighting Scabior the whole way. They got the door closed but it was no use. Scabior blew the door apart. He stood there, looking at her. They all noticed his eyes at the same time. Not only were they ringed in kohl but heavily glazed and looking as though they were bloodshot. Then he held out his left arm.

"Kill the snake, sweetheart, kill her! You'll be free of me, kill her." He commanded softly.

"What?" She asked, bewildered.

He flinched and made a move towards his left side. He swayed. "Protect myself, protect Nagini, protect myself, protect Nagini, Nagini dies, I die, Nagini dies, I die." He stood before them, staring blankly into space. Harry saw his Dark Mark, shining bright red against his skin. The Dark Mark! Voldemort WAS controlling him, through the Mark!

"Stupefy!" he yelled. Again the snatcher effortlessly deflected the spell. Harry cursed, they had to break Voldemort's hold on him but he was too good of a fighter. Harry stooped and turned to Hermione. He put his hand on her arm.

"Hermione?" he spoke gently to her. "You have to distract him. It's the only way Ron and I can take him down. If all his attention is on you, then we can knock him out, secure him and find out what curse Voldemort put on him. We can separate him from the snake."

"What? No, Harry, he'll hurt me again." Hermione sobbed as she stared at Scabior fearfully.

"Hermione, listen to me! Look at him! He's not trying to hurt any of us. He's simply deflecting OUR spells. He's waiting for you. Look, you're the only one he's looking at. You have go to him, talk to him, keep his attention on you. He has a spell on him, Hermione, listen to what he's saying! If the snake dies, he dies! We have to break the spell, separate them, then we can kill Nagini! But you have GOT to distract him, only he can tell us what spell was used! Once we have him down and tied, we can take the spell off, it'll be over, Hermione. You can do this, be brave for us one more time, Hermione. You can do it." Harry encouraged her.

Hermione took a deep breath, watching as the snatcher's eyes fell to her chest, then back to her eyes. That's when she knew Harry was right. The boy would listen to her because she was the one he wanted to see. She stood up, walked out from behind the table, and started towards him. She stopped about a foot away. He took the last few steps. He raised his right hand, took a strand of her hair and sniffed it. She smiled tentatively at him. She put her right hand against his cheek and watched as he closed his eyes and leaned into it.

Harry and Ron both cast stunners at the same time. The boy flew backwards and hit the wall opposite them. The snake hissed angrily as she was jostled around. They bound his ankles and wrists, then revived him.

"What spell was it, Scabior? What did he use, we need to free you from it before we kill the snake." Harry told him.

Scabior shook his head and began to laugh. "There is no freeing me, Potter, kill the snake, now! I won't die but I will tomorrow, if you don't win tonight! They'll kill me or turn me into the next Horcrux! You know that as well as I do! It's why the bloody bastard hung the fucking snake on me!" he looked at Hermione and reached out. He guided the wand she held to his chest. "Kill me, darling, or kill the snake. Either way, I'm dead. Please, sweetie, kill me! It's the only way, kill me!"

Hermione threw her arms around him and held him close. "I can't. I love you too much. I don't want you to die."

He started to say something, then he threw his head back and screamed. They jumped back in alarm. His Dark Mark was bright red and, once again, bleeding red around the edges. They knew what that meant. He was being crucio'd through his Mark. His werewolf strength broke through the bonds they had on him and he was free. He lay there panting, then looked up blankly. "Escape the castle, protect Nagini, escape the castle, protect Nagini." He whispered softly. Before they could attempt to catch him again, he Disapparated, taking Nagini out of their reach.

A moment later, they heard two familiar voices. "Mikey, Mikey!" it was Alex and Fen, followed by both Goyles. "Where is he, we heard him screaming!"

"He disapparated. We don't know where. "Harry exclaimed.

Hermione had moved to look outside. Suddenly she screamed. "Mikey, don't go there!"

They rushed to the window. They could see Scabior running to the wooden bridge, the same bridge that was about to be blown up!

"Alex, Fen, go get him, Neville and Seamus are about to blow that bridge up!" the two men cursed and disapparated. Before anyone could stop her, Hermione ran towards the door. Just than two bodies fell from above, Lavender Brown and a werewolf, mauling her. Hermione, Ron, Harry and both Goyles shot stunners and threw him into a wall. They levitated Lavender into a corner where hopefully nobody would hurt her any worse.

They made it outside and started down to the bridge. They could see the three snatchers, Mikey still outrunning Alex and Greyback. Seamus tried to grab him as he passed and was slung aside for the effort. Ashe made another grab, a werewolf came out of nowhere and jumped him. Neville came running across the bridge as Mikey reached the end of it. Neville waved his arms. "Get back, it's gonna blow, get back!"

"MIKEY, STOP, NOW!" Greyback yelled commandingly. It almost worked. Mikey stopped dead in his tracks at the Alpha command. Then he dropped, screamed and stood back up. Neville was staring at the ground in front of him where the sorting hat had just dropped, with a gleaming hilt sticking out of it. He reached down and pulled out the Sword of Gryfindor. He looked up at Mikey who stood, staring at him.

All Mikey said as he began running directly at Neville was "Kill. The. Snake! Don't miss!" he jumped past Neville and held his left arm out. Neville swung and struck the snake squarely. She dissolved into thin air. He watched in horror as the snatcher dropped over the edge. Then he heard a crack.

"MIKEY, NO, MIKEY! GODS, NO, MIKEY!" Alex screamed despairingly as he watched his cousin drop out of sight.


	13. the rest of the battle

The rest of the battle.

No money made.

Sorry for the cliffhanger. But it had to happen like that for the rest of the story to work. For just a short while, our young Slytherin will only be making sporadic visits until times time to join up with the prologue. So the next chapter or two, maybe more will be more centered on Hermione, until I figure out how and when he comes back to the story. In the meantime, enjoy!

Alex reached the edge and probably would have gone over himself, had Neville not caught him. Greyback had dropped to his knees and held his hands over his face. The Goyles stood back, quietly mourning the young man who had led them into so many successful hunts. The trio reached the bridge and Hermione ran out to Alex.

"Where is he, Alex? Where is Mikey? Alex, what's wrong? Alex? Greyback, where is he? Where's Mikey?" Hermione's stomach shrank in fear as she looked at the two men. 'Where was Mikey? He was supposed to be right here, waiting for her!'

"Gone. He went over, Granger, he jumped. We couldn't reach him in time." Greyback told her sadly. Alex was screaming his cousin's name over and over. Neville was having a devil of a time, keeping the young man from jumping off as well. Harry went to him and knelt down, laying a hand on his back.

"Alex? Talk to us, please!" Alex stilled, then turned to face Harry. His eyes were red rimmed and bloodshot.

"Go back, Potter. NOW. Finish this! Go back and kill that bloody bastard! You want me to talk to you, ok, I'm talking! Make his sacrifice worthwhile! He did this to help you! Don't waste his death, Potter, go back and finish the fucking job! Finish it, for Mikey!" Alex keeled over, rocking as he stared at the end of the broken bridge.

Hermione was in shock. Staring at Greyback, she shook her head, "No, no, he's not. He's not dead, he's not! He can't be, we were going to married, after I graduated, he gave me a ring!" she dropped to her knees beside him. Greyback took a shuddery breath as he wrapped his arms around the girl. She sobbed as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders.

Harry stood up and squared his shoulders. He took a deep breath and turned back to the castle. Alex was right. Mikey had sacrificed his life to rid them of Nagini. This is what they had been waiting for. He wasn't going to waste the chance the young man had given them. For Mikey, he WOULD end this fight. TONIGHT! He marched back to the castle, Ron on his heels. He didn't try to get Hermione with him. She needed to mourn. He realized she had surely remembered who Mikey was, on her own.

He walked into the Great Hall. There, in the middle of the room, stood Voldemort, Snape and Lucius Malfoy on either side of him deflecting spells but not fighting. All over the hall, Death Eaters were fighting Order members, teachers and students. Harry also recognized residents of Hogsmeade and people who almost certainly were parents of some of the students. He saw a couple who bore such a resemblance to Scabior, they had to be related to him. Another couple resembled the young Alex. Ten to one, they were the parents of the young Snatchers.

"Hey, Tom! Tom Riddle! I hear you're looking for me! Here I am, come get me!" Harry yelled loudly. The battle almost stilled as everyone parted to make a clear space between him and Voldemort. Voldemort held up his hand. He smiled menacingly as he stared at Harry.

"Come closer, Potter, meet your death!" Harry briefly looked away to meet the glances of both Snape and Malfoy. He gave them a tiny nod.

"I don't think so, Tom, that's going to be your fate tonight! Death, once and for all, you're finished, Tom! Your little trinkets are destroyed!" Harry taunted. Voldemort faltered, then began laughing. "Not all of them. One remains safe."

"You mean the snake? The snake you bound to the life of one of your followers? That snake? Sorry, Tom, that snake is gone, too. The boy got rid of her!"

Voldemort lost his smile. He pressed his Dark Mark. "Scabior" he hissed. "Scabior, come here! Now!"

"Scabior is dead, Tom." Harry said, watching the couple who resembled Scabior. They were listening closely, had been since they heard their sons name. The woman gasped and her hands flew up to her mouth. The mans eyes drifted shut and his teeth clenched.

"He jumped past Neville, who killed your snake with the Sword of Gryfindor. He went over the edge of the wooden bridge." Harry said slowly. The woman screamed and ran out of the Hall, the man on her heels. The couple who looked like Alex ran out behind them. He looked at Voldemort and took up a dueling stance. " C'mon, Tom, shall we dance?"

The curses began flying, fast and furious. Voldemort was visibly weakening. The battle had recommenced when Harry and Voldemort's duel started. Lucuis and Snape were both fighting the surprised Death Eaters. Draco was fighting them as well, keeping his mother shielded from harm. Bellatrix was slinging crucios left and right. She made the mistake of targeting Ginny Weasley.

Molly Weasley trained her wand on her and yelled, "Not my daughter, you bitch! Avada Kedavra!" Bellatrix was struck down amid a chorus of cheers. Together, Lucius and Severus battled Dolohov until he finally went down. As his Death Eaters were struck down or captured around him, Voldemort seemed to realize he might be on the verge of yet another defeat by the Boy Who Lived, this time it would be a permanent defeat.

Harry's borrowed wand seemed to be weakening and almost cracked with the last couple of spells. His heart sank. He wished he still had his other wand but it was in Hermione's bag, broken. Suddenly, from behind him, he heard "Potter, catch!" he turned. Draco Malfoy tossed him his wand. The wand felt strangely right in his hand. He and Voldemort pointed their wands at each other.

"Avada Kedavra!"yelled Voldemort. "Expelliarmus!" screamed Harry.

The crowd watched, stunned, as the Killing curse retracted from its original target and rebounded squarely onto Voldemort. He fell to the floor, dead, for good this time. Harry fell to his knees, Ron supporting him from behind. Ginny ran over. "Where's Hermione, she should be here, too!" Ron shook his head silently and let Harry explain.

"The boy, the guy that she was crazy about, he was attached to Nagini by a curse. Voldemort, before they got here, put her in a cube and spell chained it to his Dark Mark. He ran past Neville just now so Neville could kill her. He jumped off the bridge." Ginny gasped in horror as did most of the people listening. Snape and both the Malfoy men bowed their heads and cursed. Narcissa covered her mouth and wept tears of sorrow.

Back down at the bridge, Alex was still staring blankly at the end of the bridge. He couldn't believe his baby cousin was really dead. Hermione raised her head and gasped. "Alex, my ring!"

Alex turned to look at her quizzically. "What about it?"

"It didn't detach. He's not dead, Alex! The ring! It would detach if he was, he told me so. The only way for me to remove the ring is he has to take it off or he dies. He didn't take it back from me and it's still attached, so he's not dead." Hermione was so excited that she was babbling.

"Granger, Hermione, sweetie, the wizard who sold that ring to Mikey told him its range isn't that far. It would go from here to the edge of the woods there. Anything past that, the ring wouldn't know. All it means is that Mikey isn't in range. That's all, sweetie." Alex gently told her.

Hermione stubbornly shook her head. "No, he's not dead, Alex. You'll see. He's not!" Greyback slowly stood and walked over to Alex and Neville. He lowered his wand and whispered a spell. Instead of pointing down as he expected, the wand pointed straight ahead, at the woods. Neville poked Alex and pointed at the wand. Alex gaped for just a moment before pointing his wand down and repeating the same spell. After a moment the same thing happened, the wand came up and pointed at the woods. Alex looked at Greyback hopefully.

"Alex, don't get excited yet. That was a locator spell for Mikey's body, not Mikey. Just because it pointed at the woods doesn't mean he's alive, it just means his body is in the woods, not in the ravine." Greyback pointed out. He looked back at the castle. Two couples were running down the path. He poked Alex and motioned. "We really don't want her first meeting with them to be on the bridge where their boy killed himself."

Alex looked, saw his and Mikey's parents and yelled at the Goyles. "Gayle 1, Goyle 2. Catch them before they get here, tell them to go home, we're going to try and find Mikey's body. We'll let them know when we find anything."

Hermione looked up. "It won't be his body you find, it'll be Mikey. He's not dead, I'm telling you, he's not!" Alex knelt down beside her. "I really hope you're right, Granger, I really hope you're right."

He and Greyback disparaged. Neville hugged Hermione as she began crying again. They could faintly hear screams from the women the Goyles had gone to intercept. After that was the faint sounds of Apparition.

The boy opened his eyes. He could see by the sky that it was getting late. It would be dark soon. He wasn't supposed to be out after dark. His Mum and Da would be angry with him. He felt sore all over and breathless, too. It was the same way he'd felt after he fell off the muggle slide from near the very top. His mum and Da had forbidden him to play on the "muggle death trap" anymore without someone with him. That someone was supposed to be Ally but he couldn't see him anywhere.

He sat up slowly. He felt a sudden burn on his arm. "Scabior! Scabior, come here! Now!" He cocked his head. 'Who was that? Scabior? Was that him?' He thought hard and finally brought up a familiar name, he thought. 'Mikey. Mikey Scabior? That was him?' He tried to get up. It took three tries before he was actually on his feet.

He found himself staring into a window. His reflection was a shock. 'When had he gotten,,, big?' He inspected the reflected boy. The long brown hair with a bright red streak. The duster, waistcoat, vest, dress shirt, the black plaid pants. The combat boots. The holster belt. The black fingerless glove. If he didn't know what a reflection was, he'd swear he was looking at Da, playing outlaw with him. "Mum, Da? Ally?" he called softly. He decided to just start walking and checking inside the stores, they wouldn't leave him alone for long. Maybe he should call for Peach. If he didn't find them soon, he would call the elf.

He didn't pay any attention to the whooshing sound behind him. He was too busy keeping himself upright and moving ahead. He seemed to have hurt himself but he couldn't remember how or why.

Alex looked ahead and grabbed Greyback's arm. He started smiling. There, ahead of them, strutting like he had all the time in the world, was none other than Mikey. Greyback felt a huge weight fall off of his shoulders. 'Damn, his pup was alive!' He and Alex began shadowing the young man, they didn't want to take him off guard. A surprised Mikey was a very deadly Mikey and they both had the scars to prove it. He had somehow managed to Aparate himself into Hogsmeade. As they got closer and closer, they could hear him mutter ever so often. Finally they were close enough to hear him. "Mum, Da, Ally? Where are you? I'm scared. I wanna go home now. Where ARE you? Mum? Da? Ally?"

"Mikey?" Alex watched as his cousin whirled around. Instead of yanking out his wand, Mikey stumbled back from them. "Who are you? Get back! I'll tell my mum and Da on you!"

"Mikey, I'm Ally, your cousin." Alex hastened to reassure him.

Mikey was wide eyed with fear. "But, but you're BIG! Why are you big?"

Alex was confused. "Mikey, you're big, too. Hadn't you noticed?"

"Why am I big? How did I get big? I wanna go home! I want mum and Da!" Mikey whimpered.

"Mikey, come here, sit down with me, I need to ask you something very important." Alex sat down on the sidewalk and waited for Mikey to join him. Greyback hung back enough to where Mikey was paying no attention to him.

Mikey sat down beside the other boy, who claimed to be his cousin Ally. Mikey wasn't too sure about that. Alex leaned toward him. "Mikey, I need you to tell me the last thing you remember."

Mikey put his hands together and twisted his thumbs back and forth. Alex knew he only did that when he was really scared and it'd been years since he'd seen Mikey do that. "I went to sleep and woke up back there." Mikey mumbled. Alex leaned closer. "What's the last thing you remember before you went to sleep? Please try to remember, Mikey, this is very important."

"We was at the park with our sisters, we was playin' on that whirlythang, we didn't wanna go but Chelle n Bird wanted to talk to Licia 'bout her dumb ole boyfriend. He was wantin' to see her. She didn't want your mum and Da to know, they wouldn't like her hanging' out with ole Antonin." Alex gaped and stared at his cousin. 'Alicia had been dating Dolohov?! When had THAT happened? More importantly, how had Mikey known and not him?!' "Then what happened, Mikey?"

"They came to the park. They was talking to Licia and he came over, started talking to me and you, wanted to take us to the store and get ice cream. I didn't wanna so I told him to go away. I wanted to go home! Him and Bella kept tryin' to get me and you to go with 'em but we just kept playing!" Mikey said proudly. "Then they started shootin' firecrackers and I fell asleep."

Alex closed his eyes knowing that the 'fireworks' Mikey remembered was the spells that killed their sisters. He couldn't believe Mikey remembered Dolohov and Bella being there. HE hadn't remembered them being there. Then again, he also hadn't remembered till now that Bella and Dolohov had tried to lure him and Mikey away from the park before their sisters were killed.

Greyback had been slowly been inching closer as they talked. He very carefully eased down on Mikey's other side. Alex told Mikey, "Greyback is going to take us home."

"Greyback? The werewolf, Greyback?" Mikey stammered. "He'll eat us! Chelle said so!"

Alex laughed. "Nope, she was just saying that to scare you. Greyback is a friend of our family. Your grandpa is his doctor. He just wants to take us home. Mum and Da are worried about us. We've wandered a long way from home this time."

"You sure? He growls at me ever time I'm at grandpa's and he's there." Mikey gave Greyback a sidelong glance.

"He's just playing with you. You gotta growl back at him, Mikey." Alex sniggered. Greyback smiled, looking at the ground while Mikey adjusted to his presence. Mikey seemed to accept that explanation.

"When are we going home, Ally? I wanna see mum and da." Mikey said tiredly. Looking at him, Alex and Greyback could clearly see how exhausted the boy was. His eyes, in addition to being lined with kohl, almost looked bruised, where he hadn't been sleeping and from the strain of all the curses he'd been under. They stood up and joined arms as Greyback Apparated them to Scabior Manor in Ireland.

They reappeared into a drawing room. The first person Mikey saw was his mum. "Mum!"

She had been bent over, crying. "Mikey, my baby, Mikey!" she jumped up, ran over and grabbed him into a tight hug. His dad looked as though he couldn't believe his eyes. He quickly walked over and wrapped his arms around them, holding them as tightly as he dared. Alex grabbed his dad and Greyback explained about the Memory Charm that Voldemort had apparently put on Mikey. When the snake was killed, it obliviated Mikey's memories of his whole life, all the way back to the day of his fourth birthday.

"Dad can get his memories back, him or Severus."

Mike told them, having heard the whole thing. He knew he wouldn't be much help as Mikey was a natural Occlumens and he was just average at Legilimens. But Severus and his dad were both natural Occlumens as well. They had, in fact, been the ones who trained Mikey.

Michael walked into the room and stopped short. There was his beloved grandson, alive and well. The boy practically looked asleep on his feet. He stuck his head back into the kitchen. "Oi, Dora, surprise in the drawing room, darling." His wife came out and squealed with joy. "Mikey, my sweetie, how's my little grandbaby?!"

Mikey looked over at her. His eyes lit up with joy. "Nana, Nana!"

"Guess what just came out of the oven, freshly baked?" Dora smiled. Mikey swayed but stayed upright as he walked over to his grandma. "Hot cross buns?" he asked hopefully.

"Just for you, my sweet boy, come, let Nana spoil her baby." Dora coaxed.

"Mum, hot cross buns are not until Lent." Mike called teasingly.

"Not when my grandbaby is in the house." Dora sang back at him.

Everyone laughed as they watched Mikey disappear into the kitchen with his grandma. Then they began trying to figure out how they were going to get his memories back. It was decided that they would just enjoy having the boys home for a while first. In a week would be soon enough to start retrieving his memories. By then, they could have Severus and Lucius over here to help as well.

Back at Hogwarts, Hermione was sitting at the end of the bridge, hands clasped together. She stared lovingly at her ring. She wished there had been a way to have a picture of him. 'Wait, wasn't there student pictures in the library?' she jumped up and pulled Neville up with her. "Let's go see what's happening. It might be a while before they get back." With one last glance at the woods, she led Neville back towards the castle.

On the way, they came across Seamus, sitting against a rock, bleeding from a cut on his arm. "Seamus, are you ok?" Hermione dropped to her knees beside him, examining the cut which turned out to actually be a bite. "Seamus?"

"Werewolf, good thing he wasn't transformed, aye? Full moon in a few nights, though." Seamus smiled weakly but looked sick at the thought. Hermione hugged him.

"Oh, my god!" she gasped. "Lavender! We have to go check on Lavender, she was bitten, too!" Seamus moaned at that thought but jumped up and ran with her and Neville to find Lavender. She was still in the corner where they had hidden her. She and Seamus took one look at each other's wound and both teared up. Seamus hugged her tightly. "I'll be here for you, always."

Hermione went to find Harry and Ron. She wanted to tell them that Mikey might not be dead. Until, that is, she overheard two of the Aurors who had fought telling their squad to round up all the Snatchers and Death Eaters and prepare them for Apparition to Azkaban. To her horror, the two Goyle brothers were the first two bound. She heard the Aurors asking the whereabouts of Greyback, Scabior and McKeon as they were at the top of the list for detention.

She quickly decided then to write a letter to Alex, telling him to take care of Mikey and keep himself, Mikey and Fen out of the public eye until she and Harry could convince the Aurors they were innocent. She walked over and asked what the charges were as the Goyles. After being told it was simply because they were snatchers, she threw a fit and demanded to speak with Kingsley Shacklebolt. Shacklebolt listened as she tried to explain that the Goyles weren't really snatchers, they helped Mikey and Alex by keeping the camp neatly together and in order. Shacklebolt promised that he would secure their release as soon as possible. The Goyles smiled gratefully at her.

She found Harry outside on the stone bridge. He was holding the Elder wand. He had her bring out the broken pieces of his old wand. The Elder wand glowed at the tip as it repaired the other wand. He then threw the Elder wand away, explaining that it had caused nothing but trouble for years and it was time to be rid of it, for good. They stayed there, watching the sun set. That was where Ron found them, they went back in and joined the rest of the Weasley family.

The last thing she did before they left Hogwarts was write the letter to Alex and go to the library. As it turned out, there were plenty of photos to choose from, but the only one she took was the only one where Mikey was actually looking directly at the camera. It was a serious shot of him in the library, looking as though he'd been studying hard.


	14. a time of rest

A Time of Rest

No money made

After the battle is over, taking a break to rest. Mostly Hermione. A mention of Scabior ever so often.

/ will signal a Scabior appearance.

After they left Hogwarts, it was decided that she and Harry would go to Grimmauld Place. The Weasleys needed time to plan a funeral. Fred, that mischievous twin of George, had been killed. George was devastated. The rest of them were just in shock. Harry had cried when he realized that Remus and Tonks were among the dead, little Teddy Lupin was now an orphan. They all shed tears when they discovered the body of little Colin Creevy, Harry's biggest admirer. No more would he be flitting around snapping shots here and there.

Hermione wished there was some way to check and see if Alex and Greyback had even found Mikey, they had to, they just had to, the boy couldn't be dead. Harry told her the Prophet would, no doubt, put an article in the paper about the battle. They would surely tell who had survived or not.

Sure enough, the next morning. There wasn't a huge write up but the headline was unexpected, to say the least.

/

_The Daily Prophet_

_MISSING IN ACTION! WHERE ARE THE HEIRS? _

_Michael and Alex, heirs to the Irish families of Scabior and McKeon, had been out of the public eye for the past three years, ever since they declined their seventh year at Hogwarts to enter specialized training with Alastair Moody (deceased since last July). Shortly after completion of training, they attained their licenses as Aurors only to be caught up in a combined Death Eater/werewolf attack on the night of their eighteenth birthday (Scabior's as McKeon had celebrated his a week earlier) in a tavern attack which resulted in a total of 32 people infected with lycanthropy (seven of whom were Aurors). They were fired from the Aurors department and disappeared._

_They famously reappeared as they were inducted into the exclusive Inner Circle of the Dark Lord himself, Lord Voldemort. They were given their own Snatcher gang, at which time, Scabior was named Head Snatcher and promised the Mudblood Granger as a reward for bringing Harry Potter in. Sadly it didn't happen and last night Lord Voldemort lost his final battle with Harry Potter and was killed at the Battle of Hogwarts._

_The boys were last seen alive and actively fighting before disappearing mid battle. Where have they gone? Are they dead or alive? Concerns arise as they were last seen with Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf known for viscously killing even his own kind, and bragging of his numerous attacks against both young men and women. Both families formerly resided in London as Scabior's parents were healers at St. Mungo's and McKeon's parents were barristers in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement._

_Both families have suddenly broken ties with both the Ministry and St. Mungo's, returning to Ireland earlier this week. Neither family could be reached for comment. The Prophet will keep you updated as to the progress of finding the heirs._

_/_

Hermione read the paper in dismay. 'Where was her Mikey?! Why hadn't Alex answered her yet?! And, why in Merlin's name had that damn Rita Skeeter dragged her name into the article?!' Then she remembered Seamus telling her that Wizarding Ireland had an equivalent of the Quibbler called the Irish Express, although it wasn't near as questionable as the Quibbler. She immediately sent an owl off with money to begin a subscription, beginning with that day's paper. Sure enough, there was an article there but it was short, sweet and to the point.

/

_The Irish Express_

_Scabiors and McKeons finally return home. _

_Today the big house greeted two of its errant families back after years away in England. There was a flurry of activity as two families Apparated home. The Scabiors and McKeons, healers and barristers by trade, were greeted warmly by their parents, grandparents and employees of the house of McKeon. The only members not seen were the youngest members of the family, Michael and Alexander, both aged 20. Many young ladies hopes abound as they wait to see if the boys are ready to settle down and select brides._

_/_

Hermione's eyes narrowed as she realized the paper was implying the families had come home to possibly celebrate a couple of weddings, specifically the weddings of Mikey and Alex! She threw the paper down as it also failed to let her know the fate of her Snatcher. 'Was he dead or alive?'

Harry watched as she anxiously scanned the papers, then slumped in defeat. "Hey, c'mon, Hermione. Don't give up, didn't he say he'd let you know? We just have to give him and Greyback some time. If they didn't find him alive-" he jumped as Hermione whipped around, her eyes snapping, "He IS ALIVE, HARRY POTTER! Don't you ever imply to me that he's dead! He is alive! I would know if he were dead! I would know, Harry, I would know!" Hermione broke into great, gasping tears. Harry wrapped his arms around her, feeling guilty for upsetting her. He wasn't sure he was ready to forgive the young Snatcher if he was found alive but the boy had helped them with Nagini. For her sake, he would make himself get along with him. He wasn't so sure what Ron's reaction would be, he knew Ron still had hopes of himself and Hermione.

The floo suddenly flared green with a floo call. They knelt down beside it as Mr. Weasley's voice came through. "Harry, Hermione, Molly wants the two of you to join us for supper tonight. Shall I tell her to expect you? We would really love to see you." Harry looked at Hermione and raised his brows questioningly. She sighed and nodded. It was no use waiting around for a letter that might never come. Alex hadn't specifically told her he would let her know anything, nor had he written to agree.

They went to get ready and came back down to the library. They stepped through and were greeted with tight hugs from Mr and Mrs Weasley. Ginny ran in and grabbed Harry as Ron followed more slowly. He watched Hermione carefully, remembering how torn up she'd been over that Snatcher. 'Was she still obsessing over him?' He came to her and gave her a gentle hug. Hermione tried not to stiffen away from him but it was hard not to. She knew how he felt but she couldn't help him. She couldn't help her own feelings, either. She'd tried to make herself hate the boy but it wasn't something she could control.

They all went to the kitchen and it was strange to see George without Fred. It was a very quiet meal. The funeral would be the next day. As Harry and Hermione stood to go, they were invited to stay the night. Loathe as they were to stay, they agreed and went through for a change of clothing for the next day. As they came back, Ron grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her outside.

"Well? Have you heard anything? Is he dead?" Ron asked bitterly. Hermione stiffened and pulled away from him. "I don't know. I haven't heard anything. Why do you care?" she snapped.

Ron cursed. "How can you still have any feelings for him?! He beat and raped you!"

"He wasn't in control of himself, Ron! You try resisting the Imperio as many times as he was struck by it!" she snarled angrily at him.

"Is that what he told you?! And you believed him!" Ron screamed angrily back. He couldn't believe how stupid she was being. 'Did she honestly think that slime bag had FEELINGS for her! He was probably glad to see her go!' Ron backed away from her. "If you seriously think he'll come back for you, then you're as stupid as you ever accused Lavender of being!"

Hermione flinched as the hurtful words hit directly on her biggest fear. She couldn't help but think Alex hadn't responded because he knew Mikey wouldn't want to come back for her. She thought he'd meant it when he said he loved her, but he might have been saying that just to get her to sleep with him willingly. She just didn't know. She ran past him, up the stairs to Ginny's room. She burst in crying as Ginny looked up, startled.

At that moment, an unfamiliar owl pecked on the window. Attached to its leg was a letter and a rolled up paper. She looked at the handwriting. It was one she'd never seen before. She had a sudden hope that it might be Alex. She glanced at the rolled up paper. Her breath caught and she forgot the letter. There was a picture on the front page. It was the evening edition of the Irish Express.

"Ginny, look!" she fell onto the bed beside the redhead. They huddled together as they eagerly read the page.

_/_

_The Irish Express: Evening Edition _

_Heirs come home: first appearance!_

_The heirs to the house of McKeon made their first appearance an hour ago. Michael Scabior and Alex McKeon were seen walking around on the family estate. They were pictured with old family friend Fenrir Greyback. The boys were apparently racing from one side of the lawn to the other, with Greyback refereeing. As they came close to the boundary and saw the press, Michael recoiled and raced back to Greyback, cowering behind him almost fearfully, it seemed. The boys were involved in the recent battle of Hogwarts and, it seems, Michael might have received a grievous injury. Perhaps a Confundus curse? More to come as we follow the story of the heirs' unexpected return._

/

Ginny looked at her. "Maybe that's why you haven't heard from Alex?"

Hermione reached for the letter that had fallen to the floor. She crossed her fingers as she opened the letter. It was from Kingsley Shacklebolt. "Watch the Daily Prophet tomorrow. There's going to be a big story." It was signed KS.

Hermione and Ginny stared at each other. "Think we should let Harry know?" Ginny asked. Hermione nodded. Ginny went to the top of the stairs and called Harry up to her room. They showed him the letter, then let him read the article. As he sat, watching the boy stop short and race away from the press, the only thing he could think was 'he fucking looked terrified'. He mentioned that to Hermione. She and Ginny had noticed it, too. The boy in the picture was clearly happy, until he saw the reporters and became terrified, for some reason.

The more Hermione thought about it, the more she was convinced that Mikey, for whatever reason, had no clue that Voldemort was dead and probably thought being spotted in the paper was a one way ticket back into his clutches. She wondered why Alex hadn't, at least, dropped her a note saying, "he's alive." The picture, proof that he was in fact still alive, just served to worsen her fears that Mikey had simply taken advantage of her, telling her he loved her but only using her as a convenient sex partner. By the time, she laid down that night, she had fully convinced herself that she did hate the Snatcher. Even if he came crawling on his knees, she wouldn't listen to his lies anymore.

_/_

_The Daily Prophet_

_Fenrir Greyback surrenders!_

_The wizarding world was astounded today as Fenrir Greyback came in and voluntarily surrendered to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. His reason for his action was "it was time." When asked about the whereabouts of the still missing heirs Scabior and McKeon, Greyback smiled mischievously. "They're alive or were the last time I saw them." He would make no further statement, leaving our readers in a tizzy as to the still unknown condition of the heirs. More to come._

/

Hermione giggled and told Ginny, "Well, now we know the Irish don't trade stories with the Prophet. They'll probably not let on and see how long it takes Skeeter to realize where the boys have been." Ginny laughed but she could see how hard it was on Hermione, knowing he was alive but unable to communicate with him.

"Send him a letter, Hermione. Surely he would write you back." Ginny suggested.

Hermione considered it. She pulled out a blank piece of parchment and a quill.

_Dear Mikey,_

_I'm writing to let you know I'm at Grimmauld Place, if you want to write back. I'll be going to get my parents soon. Then I'll be heading back to Hogwarts for my seventh year. Hope to see you there._

_All my love _

_Hermione Granger_

Before she lost her nerve, she summoned Pig and sent the letter. She gave a huge sigh of relief. Now the ball was in his court. She smiled at Ginny. They dressed and went downstairs, quietly wondering what the motive was behind Fenrir's decision to surrender. It had to have something to do with the boys.

The funeral was every bit as heartbreaking as she'd known it would be. To everyone's surprise, Severus Snape and the Malfoys showed up. They sat at the back of the muggle church and slipped out right before the end. As Hermione exited the church, she was surprised to feel a hand pull her away from the crowd. It was Draco. Wondering what he was up to, she followed him a short distance away.

"So, do you remember Mikey now?" he asked.

"Yes, I do. I also know he's alive, no thanks to anyone who could have sent me a note." She said, thinking of Alex.

"There's a reason you weren't informed. Mikey,, he,, uh,, he's not Mikey, at the moment." Draco told her.

"What does that mean, Malfoy, not himself?" Hermione narrowed her eyes at Draco.

Draco sighed and leaned closer to her. "Just what I said, Granger. That spell, the one the Dark Lord attached between him and Nagini, it was an extended Memory Charm. He wouldn't literally die, if Nagini died but he might as well have. It took most of his life away, Granger. When Alex and Fen found him, he was convinced he was still four years old and he was scared, terrified because he'd woken up in a 'big boy' body. He didn't think Ally was his cousin at first because Ally was big, too."

Hermione gasped. "No wonder he looked terrified in that picture!"

"Yeah, his family has been very careful to not let the press see him. His grandfather and Uncle Sev are going to work with him and bring his memories back, but there's no telling how long it'll take. The authorities over here have wanted sheets out on him and Alex, which is why I'm glad the stupid Skeeter woman hasn't discovered they're in Ireland."

Draco looked around. His father waved a hand. "I have to go. We're going over to Ireland to stay with them awhile. Father will be helping with Mikey. I,, uh,, I'll talk to Mikey about you. He won't know who you are or why you're important to him but I'll tell him about you. I'll make sure Alex does, too."

"Wait, Draco! Do you know why Fen turned himself in?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Yeah, he was drawing everyone's attention away from Ireland. Wizarding Britain is far more interested in the surrender of our most notorious werewolf than they are in two missing, rich boys." Draco laughed. Fen's maneuver had worked like a charm. Nobody was questioning where the boys were as intensely now as they were. He walked away and the Malfoys and Snape were gone.

Hermione rejoined Ginny and quietly related everything Draco had told her. She realized now it was probably a mistake to have sent that letter because Mikey would have no clue about her.

/

Mikey was jumping on his bed when Alex walked in. Alex laughed as he watched him. Mike walked up beside him. "He wanted to jump on his bed so bad, but he was afraid his 'big boy' body would break it down. So I put an Unbreakable Charm on the bed. Now he can jump for as long as he wants to."

They were distracted from Mikey by the sound of an owl pecking at the window. Alex opened the window, took the letter and gave the owl a treat. He looked at the signature. 'damn, I forgot to write her!' he handed the letter to Mike who opened it, read it and looked at Alex. "Something I need to know here, boy?"

"If Mikey gets his memories back, that girl is going to be your daughter in law. Unless he changes his mind about marrying her." Alex told him.

"Is this the girl who was down there, screaming, on the bridge, with you and Fen?" Mike asked. Alex nodded. Mike smiled. "Good, he's got someone to come back to. That'll help, I think. We shall see."


	15. retrieving her parents

Retrieving her Parents

No money made

Hermione fights to get her parents home. / will signify a Scabior moment.

After the funeral, Harry and Hermione decided to stay at the Burrow again. That night, another owl showed up at Ginny's window. This time, it held only a letter. Still expecting it to be Alex, Hermione was caught off guard when it turned out to be from Mikey's dad.

/

Enclosed was a picture of Mikey, happily jumping on his bed. He smiled broadly, waving at the camera. The letter read "the happiest 20 year old in our lives. He thinks he's just 4 years old and that you are a pen pal. Please respond appropriately to his letters. We hope to have his memories restored soon. Please don't hurt him worse than he's already been hurt."

Michael Scabior, Jr.

P. S. He's Michael the third, fyi.

There was a second letter. Even though it had been written clearly, it was obviously questions a child would ask.

"Hello, how are you today? Mum and Da took me to the park today. Do you like going to the park? I like the muggle whirlythang. Have you ever rid on it? They won't let me slide on the slide anymore. I fell off. Da calls it a muggle death trap. Do you know what that is? I don't. Can you tell me? Peach is ready to take me down to supper now so I gotta go. I'll write you again, ok? Bye."

Your friend,

Mikey

Hermione was crying tears of joy. Her Mikey was alive and writing to her. It didn't matter that he didn't realize who she was or that he was in the mind of a child. She could work with that. If she could only be a four year old pen pal to her future husband, so be it.

"Hello, I'm doing well today. Mum and Dad take me to the park, too. I do like the whirlythang, but if I stay on it too long, I get a belly ache. I don't really like the slide. I have fell before, too. It hurt real bad. I don't know what a muggle death trap is, either. I can ask mum and dad, though. If they tell me, I'll tell you, ok? I gotta go, too. We have to go to Aunt Minny's for supper. Bye until the next time."

Your friend

Hermione

/

Ginny was giggling." Oh so sweet!"

Hermione laughed. "Shut it, Ginny. If this is the only way to talk to him, I'll do it."

"How are you going to explain the 'muggle death trap' to him?" Ginny was smiling widely at that question.

Hermione snorted. "I'll tell him the same thing my mum and Dad always told me. 'we'll tell you when you're older.' To this day, they have yet to explain to me why dad always hated rose bushes."

"Speaking of mums and dads, have you heard from your parents lately?" Ginny asked softly.

Hermione nodded. She reached into her bag and pulled out the latest letter from 'Monica and Wendell'. She held it to her chest. "I just don't know if going to get them is the right thing to do, Ginny. They sound so happy in their letter and she's always inviting me to come visit them. Maybe I should just leave them there and be the daughter of their old friends, the Granger's. What if I bring them back, restore their memories and they hate me? I don't think I could handle that." She sighed. She just didn't know what to do. She wanted them home but she was afraid of uprooting them and then having them turn on her for using magic on them, even if it was to keep them safe.

Ginny saw the fear on Hermione's face. She knew how much the other girl wanted to bring her parents home. "Hermione, all you've wanted, since you sent them away, was for the War to be over so you could have them home again. You've told us time and again how much they love you. They might be upset for a while but surely they will understand, forgive you, right?"

"Yes, of course they will. I'm just being silly, Ginny. I'll be leaving in a couple of days. It shouldn't take more than a day or two to get everything straightened out." Hermione was almost afraid to ask. "Is Harry and Ron still planning to go with me?"

Ginny thought about her brother. "Honestly, I don't know. He knows you still like that Snatcher and he isn't happy that you want to stay in touch with him, or at least his family."

Hermione needed to share this secret with someone. "Ginny, there's a good reason why I want to stay in touch with him. When we were together,,, back at his tent,, we," she took a deep breath, "We didn't exactly,, umm,, take the precautions we should have and I've been feeling a bit off, lately."

Ginny was gaping at her. "Hermione, are you telling me you're PREGNANT? Oh Merlin! Is that what you're saying? It all makes sense now. I knew there had to be a good reason for you to contact him!"

"I don't know, for sure, Ginny. It's just like I said, I'm feeling a bit ,,,off." Hermione explained, blushing bright red. 'Merlin, this was embarrassing! I didn't realize how shocking it would sound! If I'm this embarrassed telling Ginny, how am I going to tell my parents, Harry, Ron or Mikey!' Hermione didn't think her face could get any redder, then Ginny stood up and announced "I'm going to get Mum. She'll be able to tell you if you really are or not,"

Before Hermione could stop her, Ginny was gone. Hermione looked down and smiled, laughing softly as the father of her possible child bounced happily on his bed, waving at her.

She thought of her parents, maybe Ginny was right. She was just being silly. She tried to think of pros and cons of bringing her parents back. On the one hand, they might very well hate her for uprooting them, not once but twice. But on the other hand, they'd always been so proud, if slightly bewildered, of her having magical abilities. They might have become too attached to Australia to want to leave or they might actually miss England. Maybe she could compromise with them. She would restore their memories in Australia. Then she would see if they wanted to stay there or return to Britain with her. Either way, she would have her parents back. She didn't care if they wanted to stay where they were, it was beautiful country and they had made lots of new friends if their letters were anything to go by. She wouldn't mind going to visit them at all.

Molly came back with Ginny. "Hermione, darling, Ginny said you needed to see me. How can I help?"

Hermione blinked back tears at the kindness of this woman. She had literally come from burying a child. She couldn't impose her own problems onto Mrs. Weasley. She shook her head. "It's nothing to worry about. I'm just worried about going to get my parents, that's all."

Molly sat down beside her. "Your parents love you, Hermione. They might get upset for a while but they will understand why you did the spell. They'll understand that you were protecting them, not trying to harm them. Now what else did you need to talk about, dear? I can tell something has been bothering you." Before Hermione could evade the question again, Ginny jumped in.

"She thinks she might be preggers, mum." Ginny blurted out. Hermione's face again turned bright red.

"Pregnant? You and Ron?" asked Mrs. Weasley, looking slightly horrified.

"NO! Not Ron! It was ,,, he,, ohh!" Hermione hid her face in shame.

"The Snatcher, mum, the one Ron is so jealous about, the one Harry was talking about, he jumped off the bridge." Ginny told her.

Molly's eyes widened. "Oh, no! That boy! The one who died.' She remembered now. She remembered the two couples running out after Harry announced it. That was an awful way to find out about the death of your child. "But, Hermione, dear, isn't he dead? How does this help you?"

"That's just it, Molly! He isn't! Look, this is Mikey." She handed the picture and letters to Molly. She looked down at the handsome young man, laughing as he seemed to be enjoying himself so much. She read the letters and shook her head at the reference to the 'muggle death trap."

"Well, dear, what is going to happen if they are unable to retrieve his memories? What if he basically has to spend the rest of his life, thinking he's a child." Molly hated to burst her balloon but it had to be said. There were cases where the Memory Charm was irreversible or the damage was too great, like the Longbottoms.

"Then I'll ask permission to join him. I'll ask them if I can become his primary care giver. I don't care, as long as I'm with him." Hermione stated, tilting her chin defiantly. Molly sighed. She wanted to be happy for the girl but it wouldn't be that easy. The Scabiors might have had a scandalous beginning but they were mostly pureblooded now. If Mikey's spell damage was too great and they couldn't reverse it, they wouldn't want anyone else taking care of their son. She also didn't see them letting a Muggleborn girl living with them, especially if said girl was indeed pregnant with their grandchild. They would more than likely seclude her until the child was born, then either pay her off and keep the child or pay her to disappear with the child.

"First things first. Describe your symptoms to me." Molly ordered.

"When I first wake up, I'm slightly dizzy headed. I can't stand to smell eggs cooking or any strong odor anymore. I'm always feeling nauseous but I'm not throwing up yet. I've been craving buttermilk and porridge. I despise both of them with a passion." Hermione recited dutifully.

Most of her symptoms could have covered any number of illnesses. The big giveaway was the cravings. She was definitely pregnant. Molly hugged her and silently prayed. Aloud she said, "Don't worry, darling, we'll figure something out. One thing at a time. Let's get your parents straightened out first, yes? Then we'll figure the rest of it out, all right?" Hermione nodded gratefully.

After Ginny and Molly got her calmed down and settled for the night, they went back downstairs. "Mum? What ARE the chances that they can get his memories back? If the Scabiors reject her, what will happen to her? She can't raise a baby alone, even if she is the brightest witch of her class. She'll have to go back to the Muggle world, won't she? Back to her parents? What if she's right and they reject her, too?" Ginny was worried about her best friend.

"Ginny, now don't you worry. You forget she's also best friends with Harry. If the Scabiors reject her and her parents also reject her, do you think he's just going to hang her on a limb? Of course not, this is Harry Potter we're talking about. If nothing else, he will take care of her and the baby." Molly smiled at the thought of Harry, her almost son. Her thoughts switched to the Scabior boy. Just in case he did get better, she would make a jumper for him but put it away until he proved himself worthy of the family.

The next morning, Hermione woke up, slipped downstairs and outside. She found Harry sitting on the low wall around the garden, watching the sunrise. She sat down and he put his arm around her.

"At the castle, when I was finally face to face with him, I was so scared, Hermione. I never thought I'd live to see another sunrise or sunset. I didn't want to leave any of you. I thought it was purely a miracle that Malfoy tossed me his wand. I almost lost, Hermione. The wand I was using was about to fall apart in my hands. I owe him my life for that." Harry seemed stunned at the thought of owing anything to Draco Malfoy.

"I'm glad he came to our side. His mum and dad, too. I'm glad Snape survived. Now you can talk to him about Dumbledore." Hermione sat quietly.

"When are we going to collect your parents?" Harry asked.

She smiled sadly. "As soon as you feel like going with me."

Harry stood up. "C'mon, then. No time like the present. We'll go inside and floo to the ministry from here. Let Molly know where we'll be. It's just going to be you and me. I don't think it's a good idea to let Ron meet your parents yet. He's still angry about ,,,the boy." Harry finished discreetly. "Speaking of whom, have you heard anything yet?"

Hermione pulled out the letters and the picture, showing them to Harry. He laughed at the picture, shaking his head. He howled at the request of knowledge about the 'muggle death trap.' He and Hermione were still laughing as they came in. Molly was in the kitchen, making breakfast. After they ate, they told her where they were headed.

At the Ministry of Magic, everyone was stunned when none other than Harry Potter and Hermione Granger stepped out of the floo and walked to the elevator. They went directly to the office of the Minister. Kingsley Shacklebolt was standing, waiting for them. He held a hairbrush, wrapped in a bandanna, and a small key. He explained that the key would take them to the Australian Ministry of Magic and the hairbrush would bring them and Hermione's parents back.

Harry watched as Hermione took a deep breath, grabbed his arm and activated the portkey. With a familiar tug behind the navel, they popped out of sight.

A few minutes later, they popped back in. The Australian Ministry of Magic was a warm inviting atrium, with glass walls all around. They went to the Auror's Department for instructions on what to do if the Memory Charm reversal didn't work or if Hermione's parents would be able to honor the International Statute of Secrecy regarding the Wizarding world. Harry and Hermione were then told the address of a hotel they could Apparate directly into that was fairly close to the house her parents lived in. Once there, Hermione started getting nervous again. Harry soothed her by reminding her that she still had him, if all else failed.

They took a bus to the house and stood on the sidewalk for a moment. Hermione looked at the single story, blue house which sheltered her parents. Just then, the front door opened and two people steed out. They were dressed in jogging pants and t shirts. It was her parents and they were obviously about to go for a run. "Harry, let's just walk away until they come back. Look. There's a park down there. We can sit on a bench and wait till they get back. Then I'll talk to them. Please, Harry?"

He looked down at her uncertain expression. "Ok, we'll let them get their run out of the way. But we're not leaving until you talk to them."

She smiled and nodded. She would talk to them, this would just give her a few more minutes to decide what to say. They waved at the couple who watched them walk away before jogging off in the other direction.

They sat down on a park bench with an easy view of the street. It was here that Hermione decided to share her secret with him, too. "Harry, I have something to tell you but I don't want you to get mad at him, it was my fault, too."

Harry froze. 'him', it had to be something to do with Mikey. He wondered if he could take any more news about 'him' and still stay calm and reasonable. He watched Hermione warily. "Ok, I'm ready."

"I'm pregnant. We both forgot to use a contraceptive spell. Please don't be angry at him, it was my responsibility, too." She blurted it out. It was always best to just get it all out there, when talking to Harry.

Harry's first impulse was to jump up, disapparate, go find the boy and beat the hell out of him. His second was to demand that he do the right thing and marry Hermione. Then he remembered the boy's condition. "This is why you want to stay in touch with him. You are hoping he'll still want to marry you, after he gets his memories back? He better or else have a damn good reason why he can't."

Hermione giggled. Harry was so overprotective of her, sometimes. It really was like having a little brother. They sat there, quietly talking, discussing what to do if her parents rejected her or if Mikey's family forbade her from any further contact with him.

"Of course, you'll stay at Grimmauld Place. We'll go back to Hogwarts, finish our seventh year (just like you planned, right?), you and the baby will live with me and Ginny. Andromeda would babysit so you could go to work if you wanted to. She loves babies and is already planning to babysit for Ginny and I so we can work." Harry laughingly told her. Hermione felt a weight lift off her shoulders, she had options.

So if he did reject her and the baby, it would be alright, they still had Harry. "Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley is the luckiest girl in the Wizarding world. You are such a good person. If I looked all around the world, I'd never find a better brother than you." She threw her arms around him.

"You're the sister I never had, Hermione, of course I'm going to take care of you." Harry told her, lovingly.

Two shadows fell over them. They looked up. It was Hermione's parents. They had apparently come back to find out who the young couple were and why they were watching them.

"Hello, my name is Wendell. This is my wife, Monica." He held his hand out to Harry. Harry stood up quickly. He shook his hand firmly. "My name is Harry Potter. This is my friend, Hermione Granger."

"Would the two of you care to join us for a cup of tea?" Monica asked. They nodded. "That would be great."

All the way back to the house, Hermione thought about the best way to go about this. Should they talk? Maybe getting their permission to reverse the memory charm would be better than just taking it off abruptly. Once in the house, the Wilkins led them to the kitchen.

Hermione saw a beautiful flower on the windowsill. Seeing her look at it, Monica told her "It's a Hermione flower, I always wanted a daughter named Hermione but we were never lucky enough to have children."

Hermione turned, with her wand out. "Finite Incantadem." She whispered. Then she turned and did the same with Wendell. Then she waited with bated breath.

Jean Granger blinked her eyes. 'Where was she? She'd never seen this kitchen before. Where was Todd?' She heard a sound to her right. "Jean, where are we? How did we get here?" it was Todd. She looked around desperately and her eyes lit on the young woman, staring at her fearfully. It was Hermione, her daughter, but why did the child look so scared?

"Mum, Dad, I have something to tell you. Please don't hate me." She pled.

"Hermione, sweetheart, why would we hate you?" Todd asked.

"I put a Memory Charm on you one year ago. It was the only way I could protect you. We were fighting a war in the Wizarding world and you would have been prime targets because of me." Hermione whispered.

Jean and Todd exchanged glances. "I think we need to sit down and hear everything." Jean said firmly.

Hermione started from the beginning in first year and took them all the way through the past year. Harry noticed the only parts she left out involved the Snatchers. She didn't mention Mikey and she probably wanted to tell her parents that part in private, considering her condition. By the time she was finished, it was already dark outside.

Todd was the first one to speak. "Well, I can't say that I'm not upset with you, Hermione, but I don't hate you. I could never hate you."

Jean had tears streaming down her face. "Darling, I can only imagine how scared you've been this last year but I don't hate you."

"You haven't heard the last part yet." Then Hermione went on to explain about the last few months, the first encounter with the Snatchers, the months without Ron, the last encounter, the capture and the subsequent time spent in the Snatcher camp. "The leader and I were both at Hogwarts. He was two years ahead of us. I slept in his tent. We forgot to use contraceptive spells. You're going to be grandparents. I'm pregnant." Hermione put her head in her hands and began sobbing. Harry moved back as Jean and Todd both rushed to their daughter. He could see they were already going to forgive her for the spell. It was obvious they loved her and now they just wanted to comfort their child, who was in distress.

"Hermione, sweetheart, it's alright. Everything will be fine, you'll see." Jean put her arms around her and rocked her. Todd simply laid an arm across her shoulder.

"Does he know, the father?" Todd asked suddenly.

"No, he was injured in the fighting and is home with his parents. It was a brain injury." Hermione told them about the Memory Charm. "It took his memories much the same way as my spell worked but slightly different. I only locked your memories away. His were not only locked away but obliviated on top of that." They gasped as she told them he'd been lucky to remember his own name. Wanting them to at least know a little bit about Mikey, she showed them the letters and the pictures, the one sent to her and the one she'd taken from Hogwarts. They laughed uproariously as they read his request for knowledge of the 'muggle death trap.' As they watched both the studious young student and the young man jumping on a bed, they were both thinking he was perfect for their Hermione.

"Tell him we'll explain it when the two of you are older, better able to understand." Todd said, sensing their future son-in-law was going to keep Hermione on her toes.

"I told Ginny you'd say that." Hermione giggled. Then she sobered. "Now, it's time for me to ask you a very important question. Do you want to stay here or come back to England. I'll completely understand if you want to stay here. It's a beautiful country. I could visit as often as you wanted me to."

Jean and Todd looked at each other, then their girl. "We want to be near you. We'll come back to England."

Hermione smiled happily and threw her arms around the two of them. They hugged her tightly, then surprised Harry by pulling him into the hug as well. As Harry and Hermione waited, the Granger's took the items they felt most attached to and prepared to go back to England. Jean wanted to take her flower but wasn't sure if it would survive the journey. Hermione conjured a box around it and they carefully fastened it shut.

At last they were ready to go. They all took the bus back to the hotel. Harry took her father through and Hermione took her mother through. They landed back at the Australian Ministry of Magic and were given clearance to go on to England. They were deposited into the Minister's office and her parents met Shacklebolt. Then they took them to Grimmauld Place for the night. Hermione told them first thing the next day, she would take them to their old house and they could air it out and get settled back in.


	16. settling in

Settling in

No money made. Hermione's parents are finally home. This chapter or next will lead up to going back to Hogwarts, depending on how the muse directs my writing. Scenes from the Scabiors will probably appear, too. / will be a Scabior moment. Apologies for the short chapter.

The next day, Hermione and her parents went back to their old house. She still had the keys and they went in. They all took a different room and by noon they had most of the house cleaned up. They decided to stop and tackle the last few rooms after lunch.

Hermione filled them in on all the smaller details of her life. She told them about the Weasleys losing Fred. Even though they'd never known Remus and Tonks or Mad Eye, they knew these people had been important to their daughter. So they held her as she cried, wishing they could take her pain away.

"A word of warning. Ronald thought he and I would end up together. It's just not going to happen. Even if Mikey never gets better, or if his family forbids me from seeing or communicating with him anymore, it still won't happen. But he hates Mikey with a passion. Please don't let him turn you against Mikey." Hermione told them. They were going to Diagon Alley that evening to meet Harry and the Weasleys.

As soon as they walked through the Leaky Cauldron and through the archway to the Alley, they were once again enchanted by the magical world. They were like little kids, looking at everything. She took them to Flourish and Blots, Fortesque's Ice Cream parlor and Magical Menagrie where she'd found Crookshanks.

Back at the Cauldron, they met the Weasleys for supper. Mr, and Mrs. Granger offered their condolences for Fred. The Weasleys could clearly see that Hermione had worried for nothing about being rejected. Ron pulled Hermione off to a quiet corner. "Do they know?" he hissed.

"About what, Ron?" she pulled away from him.

"About the rapist their daughter is crazy about, that's what!" he said, raising his voice slightly. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

"They know about Mikey, yes." She started back to the table.

"Do they know he beat you, tortured you?" he kept on. She whirled around, "yes, Ronald, I told them everything about him!"

"And they still don't mind!" he was incensed.

"They trust my judgement, Ronald, they know I can make my own mind up!" she snarled at him.

"They must be as stupid as you are, then!" he yelled angrily. Both parents were stunned at the scene. Harry, Ginny and George face palmed as they knew what was going to happen next. Sure enough, Hermione drew her arm back and punched Ron, dead center, on the nose.

"Don't EVER insult my parents ever again, Ron Weasley! Or they'll be taking YOUR stupid arse to St. Mungo's in tiny pieces!" She shrieked angrily. Arthur and Todd both came running. Arthur grabbed Ron as Todd pulled Hermione away.

"I think we need to end the evening a bit early. Maybe we can have supper together again next week." Todd suggested as he struggled to hold onto his furious daughter. She was so furious, she was actually baring her teeth at Ron and screaming incoherently at him. He had the sense to finally look scared and was actually cowering behind his father. Arthur nodded as he pulled Ron to the fireplace. Molly's eyes were narrowed on her youngest son. Harry kissed Ginny, hugged George and followed the Grangers out into Muggle London.

"I'm so sorry about that. I was hoping he'd have gotten the point by now. He's been owling her for the past few weeks, telling her they need to be together, and she's been telling him no. I don't know how much clearer she can be." Harry apologized.

"No need for you to be sorry, Harry, but tell me. From the way you children acted, that's not the first time you've seen that. How often do they fight?" Jean asked curiously.

"They fight like cats and dogs but that's the first time he's ever pissed her off badly enough to punch him. The only other time I've ever seen her punch someone was in our third year of school. She punched Draco Malfoy in the face. Aside from that, I have never seen the girl hit anyone." Harry told her seriously.

"What did Ronald mean, this Mikey beat and tortured her, raped her? Did he?" Jean asked.

Harry took a deep breath. He was going strictly by what Malfoy and Hermione herself had told him. "Yes, but he was under a spell called the Imperio. It's a spell that," he tried to think of the best way for Jean to understand it. "You know how there are people who use hypnosis therapy to help people get over their phobias?"

Jean nodded. Harry continued, "that's kind of how the Imperio works, except the effect doesn't end until the caster decides he's tired of playing with his victim. In this case, the victim was Mikey and the caster was the man I defeated, Lord Voldemort. He also used a curse called the Cruciatus or pain curse. That one causes you to feel like your entire body is being ripped apart. It leaves you basically feeling like someone has tried to turn you inside out."

"He was kept under these two curses for, I don't even know how long, but it's just a wonder the boy wasn't insane by the end. Then, to top it all off, the Memory Charm Hermione told you about was placed on him, also by Voldemort, and attached to the life of Voldemort's snake, Nagini. When the snake died, Mikey's whole life was ripped away from him. His parents are trying to correct that now but there's no guarantee that he will ever recover." Jean closed her eyes in horror. 'That poor boy! To have your whole life taken and not even know it!'

They made it back to their house. Hermione had finally begun calming down after they left the Cauldron. Jean left Harry in the living room as she went to fix her daughter a calming cup of tea. Todd came back down once he was sure enough that Hermione was ok to be left alone.

He and Harry went to the front porch where he also questioned Harry. Harry told him the same thing he'd told Jean. Todd was quiet. "She was right to send us away. We would never have been able to keep her safe, much less ourselves, would we?" Harry shook his head. "No. Voldemort would have killed both of you and laughed about it. The only thing that would have made him enjoy it more would be if she had been here to watch you die, unable to help you. That would have killed the girl."

"So this was also the same man who killed your parents, right?" Todd asked. Harry nodded. "You know, we never intended Hermione to be an only child, but we were never able to have any more children after her. I'm glad she has you, Harry. She obviously thinks of you as a brother."

Harry smiled. "Good. Because she's like the sister I've never had. I've protected her so many times but she's protected me as well. So many adventures we've had that we wouldn't have a bat's chance in hell of making it through, if it hadn't been for Hermione. She's the brightest witch of our age and that's no lie, sir, she really is."

Todd smiled proudly. "That's my girl. I just want you to know, Harry, you're welcome here anytime. Jean and I would be honored for you to consider this a second home, so to speak."

"Thank you, sir. That is a tremendous hour. I'd like to extend that same invitation to you. You and Jean are welcome at Grimmauld Place, anytime at all." Harry told him.

/

_Irish Express_

_Heirs abound!_

_Today, for the first time, since they've been home, the heirs of house McKeon are seen in public. Today, Michael Scabior, Alex McKeon and their English cousin Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy estate, were seen in the park, playing a game of pick up Quidditch. They drew a small crowd but stayed in the air for the most part. As they prepared to leave, they were questioned as to Scabior's condition. "No comment" was the answer from both Malfoy and McKeon, making sure to keep themselves between Scabior and the press. McKeon took charge, ushering his younger cousins away from the press. Still no word as to the exact cause for their unexpected return home. More to follow._

_/_

A loud scream rang through the air. Pandora Scabior ran to her son's room. For the past month, they had been carefully restoring their son's memories. They'd known there would be nightmares as the memories came back, especially after witnessing the deaths of his sisters. What had caught them by surprise was the after effects of Mikey being under the Cruciatus spell for so long. Severus had warned them it would be bad, having experienced the after effects himself. It surprised him that it had taken this long for them to kick in.

By the time she reached her son's room, she could hear her husband crooning to him. She walked in and Mike was on the bed, holding him tightly as he writhed in pain. Mike looked up. "Call Peach. He needs her. She treated him after they tortured him as a child. We need her to treat him again."

"Peach, Peach, your baby boy needs you!" She called. A small elf popped into the room. She hurried over to the bed. Directing Mike to lay his son down flat on his back, the elf conjured a quilt and tightly swaddled the boy. Then she levitated him as if he were laying in a hammock. She put a warming charm on him and heated him up a degree at a time until he stopped quivering. Then she set him to gently rocking in the air. Each time he started whimpering and shivering again, she'd add another degree of warmth.

Finally, he was quiet. They stayed in his room for the rest of the night. As he watched his son suffering, Dora could hear him cursing Voldemort with every breath. She knew if the lunatic were there in front of them, Mike would be trying to kill him again.

"Peach, I know how much you love working in the kitchen but we aren't sure how to recreate your cure. Would you mind taking care of Mikey for the next few weeks. We're not sure exactly how long this will go on." She requested. Peach looked at her with big eyes. "Of course, Madam, Peach loves her baby boy. She has missed him so much." She looked at Mikey adoringly.

Dora smiled through her tears. Peach had practically been a second mother to Mikey, growing up. They had received the elf and freed her shortly before Mikey's birth. Upon their return from the hospital, she had as good as commandeered the newborn child anytime Pandora needed to rest. Mike was lucky to be able to hold Mikey for a while. He wasn't allowed to hold his son for more than a few minutes at a time before either Dora or Peach would take the boy away from him. He finally got to start playing with his son as he turned six months old.

Mike put his arms around Dora. "He'll be ok, you'll see. Peach will take care of him." He nestled his face in her hair. Dora giggled. "You'd better hope Mikey doesn't wake up right now. We're right in his line of sight. Remember what happened last time?" Mike snorted with laughter, remembering the fit their son had pitched. 'Gods, dad, I know how I got made, you and Mum don't have to show me again!' Mikey had screamed as he ran back out of the bathroom, with his hands capped over his eyes.

The next morning, they were awakened by their son cursing as he tried to free himself from Peach's cocoon. They laughed as she snapped her fingers, dropping him abruptly onto his bed. He sat up and smiled happily at Peach. She snapped her fingers again and his favorite breakfast appeared, hot cross buns and pumpkin juice. Mike shook his head. "Peach, between you and my mother, that boy is spoiled rotten." Mikey just wrinkled his nose at his dad.

"So who am I working with today? Grandpa, Uncle Lucius or Uncle Severus?" he asked.

"We thought you might want to take a break today. It's been a while since you wrote to that little girl." His mother suggested.

"I'll write her, but then I want to remember some more." Mikey insisted.

"Very well, do you have any preference?" Mike asked, mentally betting himself that Mikey would ask for either his grandpa or Severus. He'd had a bad reaction to Narcissa the day the Malfoys had arrived. Narcissa had actually had to change her hair color from half white-half black to all white to calm the boy down.

~~~~~~~~_~flashback_~~~~~~

_Mikey and his father were in the drawing room, playing Exploding Snap when the doorbell rang. They hadn't begun the restoration of memories yet. Mikey jumped up and ran to answer it. Mike slowly stood to follow him, knowing it was probably the Malfoys and Snape arriving. _

_As he entered the hallway, he heard a small gasp and looked up in time to see Draco staring at Mikey in confusion. He looked at Mikey. The young man was frozen in terror, his mouth wide open. He began breathing heavily and then "AHHHH!" He backed up, turned and raced back down the hall, screaming hysterically "MUM, mum, help me! Help me, the bad lady is back, she's back, mum! She's trying to steal me again, help!" _

_He ran out of view as Narcissa stood there, cursing her dead sister. There was less of a resemblance between her and Bella than there was Bella and Andromeda but evidently, coupled with the part of her hair that remained black, it was enough to throw the boy into a panic._

_Pandora came running, wand out, only to stop in confusion as she saw it was only the Malfoys. "Where is he?" Mike asked. "kitchen, with your mum and Dad." Narcissa took her wand and waved it at her hair. Then she turned to Lucius and said, "Well, darling, you always wanted my hair to match yours," smirking at him. Lucius looked at her hair, then her face "You're so beautiful with blonde hair, Mrs. Malfoy, just as I knew you would be." Draco rolled his eyes and slid past them into the house. He walked down the hall and into the kitchen, raising his hands into sight as he did. _

_Knowing Mikey's grandpa, the old man would have his wand leveled at the door until he knew what was going on. Sure enough, as he came into the kitchen, he was met with the old man's wand. Mikey was behind him, in the arms of his grandma." What's the situation out there, boy?" the older wizard asked gruffly, never lowering his wand. "My mother forgot that, with part of her hair being black, she resembles her sister Bella more than she thought. Mikey thought she was Bella and went ballistic, thinking she was here to steal him away again. My mother is now fully blonde. Hopefully, that will help."_

_Michael nodded "it should." He lowered his wand and turned to face Dolores. "How's our boy, there, Dory?" She didn't look up from comforting her grandchild. "He'll be alright, nothing a few hot cross buns can't fix. Draco, darling, how are you, are you hungry?"  
_

_Draco smiled widely. This woman was why he loved visiting the Scabior family. Dolores always had a batch of freshly made hot cross buns, knowing all three boys loved them._

_~~~~~~~~~flashback ends~~~~~~~~~~~_

"I want to work with grandpa today." Mikey replied. Mike nodded. "Write to your little friend, get some breakfast eaten and I'll let your grandpa know to expect you." Mikey grabbed his plate, took it to his desk and reached for a bundle of letters, laying there. There was a picture beside them. 'Hermione Granger.' He sorted through the letters she'd sent him back. They had been writing all through his recovery.

He hadn't realized he already knew the girl until his memories of third year were restored. Then he remembered her from the train. Still, he wasn't sure a brief meeting on the train would have caused him to start writing to the girl. Then his memories of fourth and fifth year were restored and he remembered talking to her more and more. He stared at the picture. She was a pretty girl. Her hair looked to be as wild as his was.

This mornings session was to unlock his sixth year which, he'd been told, would end his school years, leaving only the year of training and the year with Voldemort to be restored. Those last two were the ones he was dreading the most. But maybe he would finally find out why his left hand was so twisted up and useless. Also he would finally find out why he'd been stupid enough to mar his forearm with a tattoo of a snake coming out of a skull and what the little row of numbers above that meant.

/

Harry went up to tell Hermione good night before he headed back to the Weasleys. They had decided that Hermione would stay with her parents until the last week before they went back to Hogwarts. Then she would join him and Ron at Grimmauld Place for the day, in order to do her school shopping, then back to her parents who would bring her to King's Cross on the morning of September 1.

He found her, laying on her bed. "Harry, AM I being stupid? About Mikey? Like you said, there's no guarantee that he will ever get better. I know, from how Molly acted when I said it, that it's doubtful the Scabiors would let me near him if he doesn't recover. It's a very good possibility that I'm going to end up a single unwed mother, Harry. What am I going to do, then? I can't raise a child and go to school or work." She was almost in tears, thinking Ronald had hit closer to the truth than he even knew.

"Hermione, listen to me, you are the brightest witch of our class. If ANYONE can do this, it's you. You WON'T be alone. You'll have me and Ginny, the Weasleys, your parents and Andromeda. We aren't going to just abandon you, you know. And who knows, the Scabiors might welcome a grandchild, even if Mikey doesn't get better. But you know what?" he waited until he had hermione's full attention.

"I'm willing to bet that boy makes a full recovery and comes back for you. He's strong, Hermione, so strong. You heard Malfoy talk about how long they tortured him. You saw yourself how Voldemort had him controlled and he was still fighting. YOU told me THAT, remember? He's a strong boy and he will recover. He will come back for you. It might take him awhile to get there but he WILL, Hermione, he'll get there!" Harry hugged her tightly as she cried a few tears. He left her, holding Mikey's pictures and dreaming of a future with him.

The rest of the summer, she helped her mother tame the small garden they had started as her father got his dentist's license renewed. Her mother had decided to stay home until Hermione returned to school, then she would renew her own license. They decided to make the room next to Hermione's into a nursey for when they had the baby. She and Hermione traveled to Grimmauld Place one day and they also installed a nursery there.

She continued to write to Mikey and received letters back. Some were little more than a line or two but he was sounding more and more like her Mikey. It gave her hope that he was getting better.

Authors note: I just wanted to take this time to do something I should have been doing all along. That is, thanking the people who took the time to add my story to their story alerts.

These people are: bhalesfb, shortsingingm0m, Alana Fox, mistycouch20141, Sweetpea2100, Msmalloryreads, bunnyobelenus. I'd also like to thank Harmony Rose Zabini-Malfoy for adding me to author alerts. Also thanks to lexieslater for adding my story to a favorite list. If it wasn't for knowing there are people waiting for an update, I night have actually given up on this story but thank you for following and favoriting this messed up little tale of mine.

That being said, I must apologize because, when I wrote the prologue, I fully intended to have Scabior disappear until time to show up at Hogwarts. Instead my sneaky little muse slapped me upside the head and insisted that he had to stay in the story. So to anyone confused about why, in the prologue, Hermione is convinced he died at the bridge, then suddenly she's writing to him while he recovers, this is why. My muse wouldn't let me let the boy disappear. At some point, I'll possibly try to rewrite the prologue to reflect the fact that she knows he's not dead but for now I'm leaving the prologue as is.


	17. back to hogwarts: part 1

Back to Hogwarts.

No money made.

Summer is winding down. Time for our heroes to head back to school. It should be an easy year, now, right? We shall see. /, as always, will represent a Scabior moment. ~~~~~~will be flashbacks.

/

"Top of the morning to you, Hermione!"

"My cousin Ally tells me you are a Gryffindor. So, it's a bit wild that you and I talk to each other, yeah? Do Potter and the Weasel know we talk? Yeah, I do know about them. Have been hearing about them for a while now, courtesy of Malfoy. How do they feel about it? I'll be leaving shortly to have therapy with my grandpa. Ally tells me you know about having to have my memories restored, which tells me that you are somewhere in my future, right? Exactly how close are we? Cuz I know I wouldn't just be writing to some random bint. I got your picture. You're very beautiful, in case nobody has told you recently. Mum and dad have been talking like they'd like to meet you and your parents sometime. I gotta go now. Me, Ally and Draco are going flying in the park after I meet with grandpa. Till next time.

Mikey

/

Hermione wasn't quite sure how to answer this letter 'appropriately.'. Did she tell their son he'd slept with her and given her an engagement ring? Or did she leave that part out and let him find it out in his memories? Maybe, it was time to contact either his father or mother to find out how much they wanted her to let him know? She knew they were both healers and she assumed they were also helping him recover his memory. Or maybe she should just answer vaguely enough to let him know she WAS in his future but enough to where he'd be wanting to find those particular memories soon.

Good evening Mikey,

To answer your letter, yes, I'm a Gryffindor. I suppose, to the rest of Hogwarts, you and I talking would be wild, but we've actually talked quite a bit every year. I must admit, I've cried on your shoulder quite a few times. No, Harry and Ron didn't know, at first but they know now. Harry is quite all right with it, unless you hurt my feelings, then you might want to make yourself scarce until he cools down. Ron blew a gasket and is still not talking to me, which suits me just fine. If he can't be happy for me, I don't need him around, anyway. All of which should let you know that A) I am in your future and B) yes, we are close. I would hate to think I'm just a random bint. Thank you, not many people tell me that. More often than not, people are usually making fun of my bushy hair. I have to go as well. Harry is turning eighteen and my parents have unofficially adopted him, so we are taking him to dinner to celebrate. My mum and dad have also been discussing the possibility of meeting you and your parents. Until next time.

Hermione

'There, that should be vague enough to suit them but give enough detail about her to keep him curious.' She thought with satisfaction. She wondered how far they'd gotten with his memories but she didn't want to ask, in case she caused him to relapse.

She sent the letter and began getting ready for dinner. As yet, her clothes were still fitting fairly well. Of course, that could also be contributed to the fact that she had lost a great deal more weight than she needed to while on the run with Harry and Ron. She was only just getting back to her normal weight, which was probably why the pregnancy symptoms had hit her so soon. She would likely already be showing, at least, a small baby bump by the time they went back to Hogwarts. Hopefully, she wouldn't miss too much of her lessons when she had her baby. She just hoped it didn't happen too close to her . If she was right as to the date of conception, she'd be holding her baby sometime in January or February.

Once they celebrated Harry's birthday, they would have only one more month to get ready for Hogwarts. She needed to buy some basic baby supplies and maternity clothes for when she gained a noticeable baby bump. She seriously hoped Mikey didn't freak out and dump her when he found out about the baby. She'd heard some of her muggle friends talk about girls dumped like that. They were all treated as if they were to blame for their own situation.

Harry and Ginny were already talking about getting married. They weren't sure if they wanted it to happen after graduation or if they wanted to wait a couple of years. Harry knew how much Ginny wanted to go play professional Quidditch, so he was hoping they could wait, give her a chance to fulfill her dream before settling down to raise a family.

Hermione already knew that she wanted to further her education and train as a teacher but she wasn't sure how she was going to accomplish that without help. Another thing she couldn't help but worry about was if the father of her child would want to help raise their baby. McGonagall had strongly hinted, at one point, about the possibility of her joining the teaching staff at Hogwarts in the future. As Transfiguration was her favorite subject, that subtle offer had thrilled her.

The rest of summer seemed to be flying by. Before she knew it, it was time to go school shopping. At Madame Malkins, she asked about extendable material for her robes. They came up with a nice design that wouldn't call attention to her stomach, even in the last stages of pregnancy. From there they went to Zonko's joke shop, Weasley's joke shop, Eelop's Owl Emporium, and Quality Quidditch Supplies.

She had lost Crookshanks shortly after the War and had been wanting another cat. She went to Magical Menagerie to look at the Kneazle cats. There was a new litter, just up for sale. Most of the kittens romped around the center of the pen. There, hiding in the corner, she found the adorable little black kitten, it had white ears, tail and four white socks. She promptly named him Socks, as he was also a little male. After buying all the trappings she needed for him, they headed to Flourish and Blotts for school books, parchment, quills and, for Hermione, a couple of books talking about Magical Parenting and Magical Pregnancy. She wanted to know what she was in for.

On impulse, she went to Tattings and Twills and bought a deep green dress that fit her snugly. This was the dress she wanted Mikey to see her in. Not only would he love how she looked in it, he would love the Slytherin green color of it. She, Harry and Ron were walking back to the Leaky Cauldron when they were stopped by a photographer for Witch Weekly. She reminded herself to buy the issue and send it to Mikey.

She kept Harry between herself and Ron. He still wasn't talking to her. She knew he knew what a bad match they would have been. Poor Harry always got caught in the middle of their petty arguments. She hated how Ron always drew Ginny's attention to that fact as well. She wasn't sure if he was trying to drive a wedge between her and Harry or Her and Ginny. Either way, she didn't like it. Not one bit.

She couldn't wait for school to start back. She was anxious to see how her other friends had recovered after the battle. She was especially worried about Lavender and Seamus, both of whom had been bitten by werewolves at Hogwarts. She knew wizarding families didn't take too kindly to bitten children but maybe their two families wouldn't react as badly as Professor Lupin's family had. She'd hate to think of the two of them on the streets somewhere.

Suddenly she had a thought for a new class at Hogwarts. She wondered if McGonagall could be persuaded to hire a werewolf for the much needed class, because she knew there had been many more than Lavender and Seamus bitten. She knew just the right werewolf for the job, if that is, she could get him sprung from Azkaban. She needed to write to McGonagall and Kingsley right away.

Almost in a blink of the eye, it was August 30th and she had promised Ginny to come back to the Burrow for the night so they could get caught up on each others summer. She had sent the Witch Weekly magazine to Mikey after making sure the picture of her in the green dress was included.

When she got there, she was surprised to have an owl waiting outside Ginny's window. She and Ginny giggled as they hurried to release the letter. Sure enough, it was from Mikey. But unlike his other letters, this one had obviously been written in a rage. It wasn't even headed by a greeting. There were only two sentences. Hermione was crying as soon as she read it, because she knew exactly which memories had been unlocked. Ginny's eyes were narrowed with rage. 'Harry WOULD hear about this!' She jumped up and ran to get him.

/

"YOU ACCUSED ME OF BEING A JUNIOR DEATH EATER?! DON'T BOTHER WRITING TO ME ANYMORE, YOU FLITHY LITTLE MUDBLOOD!

/

No sooner had she read the letter than another owl arrived, this time bearing the evening edition of the Irish Express.

/

_Tragedy strikes House McKeon!_

_Death Eater Attack goes horrifically wrong!_

_Tragedy struck House McKeon tonight as an unexpected Death Eater attack caused the deaths of more than thirty servants and house elves combined. The bodies of the families of Scabior and McKeon have yet to be recovered. The house was destroyed by an uncontrolled fiendfyre spell. The families surely put up a fight before dying, as the remains of Death Eaters known as Yaxley, Avery, McNair, Mulciber and Rowle were pulled from the ashes. We, at the Irish Express, wish to extend our condolences to the English widow of Alistair McKeon, patriarch of the clan. The widow Rowena Malfoy-McKeon has lived in England, apart from her husband and his Muggleborn mistress, for many years now. County Cork has suffered a great loss tonight. More details to follow._

/

Ginny had just reached the kitchen and grabbed Harry's hand to haul him back upstairs when a loud, heartbreaking scream rang out from upstairs. They all ran up to find Hermione screaming and pulling her hair. "No, No! Not again, please gods, not again! Harry, he's gone again, he's gone again! They don't know if there were any survivors, Harry! What am I going to do now, oh gods, oh gods, what do I do now?!" she sank to her knees and rocked back and forth. Harry ran forward and dropped beside her, wrapping his arms around her. Ginny was staring at the pictured images of the destroyed manor house. As she read the story aloud, the rest of the family was horrified to find out that Mikey might actually be dead this time.

/

The next morning

Mikey received the letter Hermione had sent back. He had also received, much to his surprise, a copy of the English paper Witch Weekly. As soon as he flipped it open, however, he knew why he'd received it. There was the girl he was rapidly falling for, Hermione Granger, in a beautiful green dress that he was suddenly anxious to personally see her in and, more importantly, out of. As he read her letter, he was even more eager to unlock his memories of her. He jumped up and practically ran down to his grandpa's study, where they had been working on his memories.

This morning, they were going to work on his sixth year of school again. They had already released part of it. He remembered watching the first and second tasks of the Triwizard Tournament. He remembered cheering for Potter, only because he knew that's who his girl Hermione would be rooting for. He also remembered dangling Draco over the Black Lake by his hair, after he heard him calling her a Mudblood and hoping she died in the lake.

In another week or two, he should have his memories fully back, then he intended to go to Hogsmeade and stay there until the first student visit. He would make contact with Hermione and ask her out on a date. Maybe she would wear that lovely green dress for him. His mum and dad wanted to meet her and her parents. He knew from her letter this would also now include meeting Harry. Hopefully, he and Potter wouldn't piss each other off too badly. He'd hate to come to blows with her adopted brother, in front of their parents.

"All set?" asked his grandpa. Mikey nodded. He remembered anther part of the memory they'd already unlocked. After the second task, he and Ally had gone to Hogsmeade and bought rings for Hermione and Ally's girl, Victoria. His had been a platinum ring with a little green snake setting that held a little red lion. The vender had told him of the tracking charm in it. It was perfect for her. He needed to find it so he could present it to her. That way, she'd know he was serious and not trying to prank her.

He stood still as his grandpa put a hand on either side of his face and looked him dead in the eye. He felt just the smallest push as the old man went into his mind.

Michael looked at the boxes in front of him. They were almost dwindled to nothing as they freed Mikey's memories, one box at a time. He aimed at the one closest to him, "finite" and watched as his grandson watched the little witch closely. 'Ah, he remembered that look, his grand boy was in love with the little one and probably didn't even realize it yet.' He smiled mischievously at the thought of Mikey's mum and dad meeting her. They had been slightly younger than Mikey when they discovered he was on the way. It was why they were only just twenty years older than their son. They'd been married but were still in school when they had Mikey's sisters. She'd been a mother since her sixth year of Hogwarts.

He studied the girl from Mikey's point of view. She was a smart little thing, top of her year. Same as Mikey. That was good, they'd never be bored with one another. He unlocked anther memory and she was crying as she hugged a dark haired boy with glasses and a ginger boy, 'Ohhh, Mikey hadn't liked that'. He chuckled at the jealous look on Mikey's face. Apparently, if anyone got to hold her as she cried, Mikey wanted it to be him! He went on unlocking more memories until he found what looked to be the last one of the boy's sixth year. He made that guess, judging by the fact that Mikey had no more memories, after that, of wearing a school uniform. That had to be when he went into the training program.

This last memory was on the train coming home from Hogwarts. He watched as his grandson almost knocked the girl over, righted her, and watched where she disappeared. He took his bag to an empty compartment, then went back to intercept her. He had the ring in his pocket. She came back from the other direction and he grabbed her into the car. He asked her how Potter, then she was holding up under the loss of Cedric Diggory. He held her as she cried. He asked her about Krum. That's when she apparently surprised him by being a year older than Mikey thought. Michael clapped his hand over his eyes and laughed. If they had done anything more than heavy petting in the, as yet, unlocked memories, he could very well be looking at a great grandchild before long. Mikey started telling the girl he wouldn't be back for his seventh year. He was going into specialized training. Michael was just as bewildered as his grandson as the girl suddenly jumped up and accused him of hanging about with Flint's little club of 'junior death eaters'.

"Are you mad! When have I ever talked about being a death eater?! All we talk about is Quidditch!" Mikey yelled.

"Right, because no Slytherin ever dreamed of NOT joining him. Why else would you need 'specialized training", she sneered. "Just go on back to your junior death eater club and leave me alone" she practically screamed at him. Mikey looked at her solemnly.

"I thought you were different, you didn't seem like you minded being friends with a Slytherin but you're just like the rest of your narrow-minded house, aren't you? Well, don't worry about me bothering you anymore! I'll go my way and you can go your way, you filthy little mudblood!" he gritted angrily, as he slammed the door open and left her crying in the compartment behind him.

Michael closed his eyes and sighed. That was the one word he'd hoped his grandson would never have to hear or say. He wondered about unlocking this memory, but knew if he didn't unlock it, it would show up as a dream, leaving Mikey knowing he'd tried to hide it. Besides, if the girl still felt the same way now, it was best that the boy know it up front.

Deciding that he'd unlocked enough memories today, he withdrew from the boys mind. The boy had a big day ahead of him tomorrow and the next couple of days were soon enough to unlock the last two years. He definitely wasn't looking forward to opening the past year.

Mikey blinked as he adjusted to having more memories free. Suddenly he stiffened. Michael knew by the look of rage that showed up on the boy's face that he'd just remembered that last exchange with the girl. His grandson ran out of the room. He sat wearily down in his chair. This was something the two would have to work out between their selves.

Mikey ran to his room. With a wave of his hand, all the books on his shelf flew off and scattered everywhere. He stalked over to his desk. Every letter that Hermione had written him was clutched in his fist. He glared at the photo and the magazine picture in pure hatred. 'How could she say that to him?! After all the opportunities he'd had and passed up, to join in mocking her, Potter and the Weasel, how could she possibly think he'd turn around and join the death eaters!'

In a blind rage, he snatched a piece of parchment and jotted an angry note to her. 'See if he answered anymore of her damn little pity notes!' He had half a mind to take her pictures and her damn notes and build a bonfire with them. He had actually conjured a fireball in his palm before he thought. Suddenly his whole house trembled, literally trembled. He knew that his great grandparents had powerful wards, all around the house. He instinctively stuck Hermione's letters and pictures into his shirt. Then he ran back downstairs to grandpa. He saw him walk out the door. Ally suddenly shot out of the fireplace, his parents and grandparents behind him. Mikey's parents came running inside.

"Mikey, Ally, you need to go now. Take your mum and grand mum. Go to the Malfoys. You'll be safe there and we won't have to hold back fighting." Mike ordered.

"I wanna fight," Mikey insisted. His father shook his head.

"No, I need you to take care of your mother, Mikey, please don't argue. If I know the two of you are safe, then I can fight to the best of my ability." Mike pleaded with his stubborn son. "Besides, Nana is going, too. You don't want Draco eating up all the hot cross buns for himself, do you?"

Mikey narrowed his eye. Only his dad would think to use his favorite breakfast against him. "Ok, I'll go. Just be careful, dad? We'll be waiting."

Mike pulled his boy close. "I promise, I'll be careful. I'll join you as soon as we've dispatched them." Mikey reached for his mum and grandma. Ally had his mum and grandma. Draco, who had stayed with them after his parents returned home, took Nana's hand. They all stepped into the fireplace, one group at a time and flooed to Malfoy Manor. Lucius and Narcissa were startled as they realized who all was tumbling out of the fireplace. Renée and Pandora filled them in as the boys settled their grandma's and nana on the couch. They began pacing all around the room, waiting.

Back at the house, Alistair, Alastair and Alexander as well as Michael and Mike were defending their home against the death eaters trying to bust their wards. Alistair looked at both his boys and nodded, it was time. There were too many bad memories for him to care whether he saved this house. This was where he'd been forced into a loveless marriage with a girl who previously had been his best friend. He'd had to break the heart of the girl he really loved in this house.

"Michael, Alexander, go, we'll be right behind you!" Alistair ordered his grand boys. Michael and Alexander ducked into the fireplace, with a last look back, and sent themselves to Malfoy Manor. Alistair dropped the wards and the death eaters apparated into the room. As the five surrounded the three older wizards, they demanded that Mikey be turned over to them.

"Mikey was marked by the Dark Lord himself. He's the proclaimed heir of Syltherin!" Yaxley declared.

"Just because a maniac 'marked' my grandson and declared him an heir, doesn't make him the new Dark Lord. Mikey isn't now nor will he ever be the new Dark Lord! You'll not be taking my boy today!" Alistair snarled. He and his sons all raised their wands. The spells flew in a blink of an eye. As they watched the death eaters fall, the three men raised their wands in three different directions. They all unleashed fiendfyre, then linked arms and apparated out of the house. They landed in a secluded park and walked out of the shadows. They had landed just outside the Leaky Cauldron. They strolled in and looked around. Seeing a few Aurors huddled in the corner, Michael drew a hood over his face as he followed his father and half-brother to the bar.

Alistair ordered three shots of Ogden's best firewhiskey. They downed the shots and took the bottle with them. Keeping an eye on the corner of the room, Michael flooed to Malfoy Manor, followed by his half brother and father.

He walked out of the fireplace in time to get tackled by his grandson. "It's all right, Mikey boy, grandpa's here now. We're ok, settle down, now." He ruffled the boys hair and sent him to his great grandpa. Alistair grabbed the boy into a bear hug, lifting his feet right off the ground.

Michael went to Dora, "Well, darling, looks like you're still married to a wanted man. We disposed of the death eaters, they won't be coming back. No doubt, the Ministry will be looking for us for a while."

"But how can they blame you, they were the ones who attacked us, our home is the one which got destroyed and we weren't even in England!" she cried.

"I know but they were English citizens, we're not." Michael said.

Just then, an elegantly dressed older witch walked in and stopped short. She stared in shock at Alistair McKeon, then sneered as she saw the rest of the group.

"Well, it looks like the Irish Express was a little hasty, sending me condolences. Here I was, thinking I was finally free of you and her!" she glared at Emma. Mikey moved in front of his great grandma protectively. Alistair glared at her. "Back off, witch, if you don't want me to start spilling your secrets. At least, I'm open about my big secret!"

The two of them seemed to be in a stare down. Lucius cleared his throat. "Aunt Rowena, don't be rude. They are guests in our home. If you can't be polite, or at least civil, you need to return to your room for the remainder of their visit."

She huffed angrily, then turned and stalked back out of the room. Alistair turned to Lucius. "Sorry, that was my fault. I forgot about her in the haste to get everyone to safety. I should have sent us to the Cauldron."

"Nonsense, you're family, beloved family at that, judging by how long Draco extended his visit. " Lucius said, teasing his son. Draco smiled and ducked his head.

"Grandma, can we go make some hot cross buns, now?" Mikey whispered to Emma. The rest of the family busted out laughing. 'Oh, that boy and his hot cross buns!"

Emma, Mikey, Alex and Draco went to commandeer the kitchen. Mike suddenly had an awful thought. "Oh gods! Peach, Peach! Merlin, if she's dead,,,!"

Alexander had a similar thought. "Daisy, Daisy!" Daisy had practically been Ally's second mum and had the same bond as Peach. They were also sisters. The dads let out huge sighs of relief as the two elves popped into the room, alive and well. They could relax now, knowing their sons' favorite elves were still with them.


	18. the right chapter 18

Back to Hogwarts: part 2

No money made. And now, a word from our sponsor (moi) 😂

First, an apology. In order to put the revised prologue into place, yes, I deleted the story. I reposted it as quickly as possible. Secondly, I had reviews but I'm pretty sure they were lost when I deleted. Rest assured though, I did read them.

I think someone commented on liking how I was writing him, thank you.

Someone else couldn't wait for chap 17, it's up now.

Someone else made me lmao with their review. They remarked that I must be either: crazy, a moron, a killer in the making or all of them. My answer to that review is as follows: let me assure you that, yep, it's probably all of them 😈😂😈. If in doubt, read my other work. You'll see😈😎. Now, onward to the story!

After they ate their fill of hot cross buns, the boys decided to camp out in the pool house. After enduring as many hugs and kisses as they could handle, they fled before the grownups decided they were 'too young' to camp out on their own.

Draco woke up the next morning to an argument between Mikey and Alex. Mikey was, strangely enough, cursing Hermione Granger and Alex was defending her.

"She called me a junior death eater, Ally, she didn't even give me a chance to explain, the damn little bint just went berserk!" Mikey spat angrily.

"When, Mikey? When did she call you that?" Alex couldn't remember ever hearing Granger saying that before they caught them.

"On the train, end of sixth year. Triwizard Tournament. Ringing any bells? I know I had to tell you, I tell you everything!" Mikey growled.

Alex widened his eyes. "So, THAT'S what Vicky was telling me about! She said Granger was even acting strange with her! I thought you and her both were losing your marbles! Damn, no wonder you and her were still-" Alex abruptly stopped talking. He remembered that Mikey hadn't regained that part of his memories yet.

"How so?" Draco asked. He had a bad feeling he knew why Granger had acted that way.

"Me and who, Ally? Granger? Vicky? Come on, you can't leave me hanging like that! Everyone else already does it, don't you start doing it, too! Damn it, I'm a big boy, I promise I can handle it! Just spit it out!" Mikey was tired of being handled with kid gloves.

Everyone thought he was going to go berserk if they told him anything bad. Damnit! If he hadn't gone bonkers by now, he wasn't going to! Didn't they see that?

Alex sighed. He could actually see Mikey's point. Everyone HAD been treating Mikey gingerly since he'd been home. "Vicky told me, on the platform, that Granger had glimpsed me and her, on the train. She didn't disturb us but she'd wanted to talk to Vicky. After that must have been when she talked to you. Just before the train pulled into King's Cross, Vicky finally caught up with her. She said Granger was blubbering about you, me and death eaters. Then she said Granger jumped up, looked at her and said 'but YOU wouldn't understand why I'M upset, would you'?"

"I think I know why Granger overreacted, Mikey, it was my fault" Draco jumped into the argument.

Mikey looked sharply at him. "Why?"

"When Potter and Diggory were dragged to wherever it was they went, the Dark Lord was brought back. He took some of Potter's blood, apparently, or so I heard. The Dark Lord summoned his followers. My father was the last one who showed up. Potter would have told Granger. Weasley had been telling her for years no good wizards ever came out of Slytherin. You combine my father's appearance THERE with Weasley and Potter calling me a junior death eater, throw in the fact that you're always hanging about with me, even though it's always about Quidditch and there you have it. The reason why she would call YOU one. My fault." Draco sighed.

"Not your fault, Draco. She should have also remembered that I've NEVER tormented her, Potter or Weasley. Never called them names or anything!" the more he thought about her words, the angrier he got.

Alex and Draco looked at each other. Alex shook his head and shrugged. When Mikey got this pissed off, there was nothing to do but wait it out. Sooner or later, he'd cool down on his own. That or he'd need to have a knockdown drag-out argument with Granger.

Right now, though, they had more important things to concentrate on. Draco had to get ready to return to Hogwarts. He and Mikey had to go to the Ministry and turn in paperwork, then wait to see if they got chucked into Azkaban.

Rita Skeeter was standing in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic, waiting impatiently to interview the new Minister. Hearing a sudden commotion, she looked around. There, walking towards her, was none other than Scabior and McKeon, the heirs missing since the Battle of Hogwarts.

They strutted across the room as if they owned it. She quickly walked towards them, at an angle to intercept them before they could duck into the elevator.

"Well, well, hello boys, how have you been?" she asked, her poison green Quick-Quotes Quill, already posed to record their answer.

"Good." Alex answered briefly. ''

"Come, now, surely you do better than that?" she pushed for a fuller answer. Mikey looked at her with narrowed eyes. Anyone with eyes could see the boy was angry. Alex covered his eyes and waited. 'This should be good', he thought, amused.

Mikey suddenly smiled his cocky grin. "Vacation, what's it to ya, ya old bat?" Rita gasped, 'the cheek of that boy!' McKeon had doubled over, laughing.

She narrowed her eyes in return. "Did you know that Fenrir Greyback has been imprisoned on suspicion of your murders?" they both laughed at her and held out their arms. "That won't last long."

They went on to the Minister's office. They were immediately surrounded by Aurors. Their paperwork was confiscated and handed to the Minister. Kingsley already knew that he wanted them back on staff. He read through the papers, not surprised at all to find not a single illegal arrest. Everyone they had 'snatched' and collected a bounty on had been legitimately wanted by the government. There simply wasn't a reason to arrest them.

He knew he would have to show some form of 'punishment' to them, however. Therefore, they were fitted with tracking devices in the form of ankle braces and told they would have to serve one year of community service.

He then told them, as of that moment, they were unofficially back on staff as Aurors. Once their year of community service was over, they would again officially be Aurors. He told them he needed them to go to Hogwarts, there were a couple of girls there who needed bodyguards, they would be undercover.

It was even true, to a certain extent. Most of the major death eaters had been killed or captured. Mikey's male relatives had taken care of the rest. Now the minor death eaters were trying to make a comeback. They had been heard threatening to kill or kidnap any Muggleborn student who was caught outside Hogwarts alone.

Due to the other Snatcher groups, there weren't that many muggleborns left at Hogwarts, many having been turned in and expelled to the muggle world and having no way to get back.

Mikey rolled his eyes. It looked like he and Granger would still be meeting up as she was his assigned bird. Alex was given Victoria Samms, much to his satisfaction. Neither of them realized that the Ministry of Magic was realigning their lives at that moment in time. They left for Hogwarts as the Minister was meeting with the Wizengamot for an extremely important reason.

They Apparated to Hogesmeade. It was the first of September and they knew the train hadn't pulled in yet. They went to the Hogs Head to wait. Mikey ordered a bottle of Ogden's best firewhiskey to celebrate their freedom. Kingsley had told them also that paperwork was being filled out that should soon see Fenrir Greyback freed. They couldn't wait to see him again.

The Hogwarts Express

Hermione Granger sat with her headed leaned against the window pane. Harry and Ginny sat quietly with her, knowing she didn't want to talk. Neville, Seamus and Lavender kept them company. Ron had been thrown out after having already had three screaming matches with her. He just couldn't get it into his head. There was no way she was getting together with him!

All through the train, rumors were flying but nothing had been confirmed.

On the opposite end of the train, Draco Malfoy was talking to Pansy and Blaise. Goyle and Bulstrode were currently out bullying first, second and third years for candy. Suddenly, Bulstrode rushed in. "Draco, what's your cousin's name? The one you've been staying with? What's his name?" she asked in a rush.

"Mikey Scabior." He replied.

"Was he a Snatcher? One of the leaders?" Millicent looked at Draco intently.

"Yes, he was head Snatcher. It was in all the papers, Millicent. Why?" Curiosity was getting the better of Draco.

"Oh, Merlin! Draco, how do his parents feel about Muggleborns?" she whispered.

"Seeing as his great grandmother IS a muggleborn and he loves her to pieces, they have no problem with Muggleborns. What's this about, Milly, Why all the questions?" Draco snapped impatiently at her.

"I just heard a rumor, it's going up and down the train, they're saying Hermione Granger was captured by Snatchers during the war, along with Potter and Weasley! They're also saying she's pregnant and the Snatcher leader is the father!" Millicent told him.

Draco, who had been slouched down in his seat, jerked up. "WHAT?" he had to have heard that wrong.

Millicent repeated what she'd been told. "Potter, Weasley and Granger were captured by Snatchers. While they had them, the leader slept with Granger and now she's pregnant. You can almost hear her and Weasley screaming about it all the way down here."

Draco jumped to his feet. He had to see Granger! He had to let her know Mikey was angry and just let him cool off a while. He left hurriedly, ignoring Blaise and Pansy's questions. As he walked down the corridor, he could indeed hear screaming the closer he got.

"He was a slimebag, Hermione! He abandoned you, threw you out of his camp like you were nothing and you still think he's waiting for you! He's probably plowed through half the slags in Britain by now! Get it through your head, if he was coming back, he would have been here by now! You're just making up excuses to make yourself feel better, he's NOT coming back!" Ron screamed angrily.

"Get out, GET OUT, NOW! You're wrong, he's coming back, I know he will! He loves me, he'll be back for me!" Hermione screamed back.

"How? He's dead, isn't that what you said, how is he coming back if he's DEAD?!" Ron snapped.

"He's NOT DEAD! They never found any bodies so he's not dead." Hermione cried desperately. Draco cleared his throat. "Granger and Weasel, at each other's throats, nice to see some things never change." He smirked. Granger frowned at him and turned away. Ron glared at him.

"Oi, what do YOU want, ferret?" he growled. Draco raised his brow. "I just wanted to check on dear Granger. Not that it's any of your business, weasel." He sneered.

He leaned into the compartment and talked to Hermione as though they spoke every day. "Oi, Granger, how are you holding up? My mother wanted me to check on you."

"I'll be a lot better if someone can keep THAT away from me." She snapped, glaring at Ron. She suddenly remembered where he was going the last time they spoke. She looked at him seriously. "How was he, the last time you saw him?" she had no clue that Draco had still been with the McKeons and Scabiors when they were attacked. His name had been kept out of the paper as reporters didn't realize he'd been there, either.

"Angry, something about you, him and death eaters? I don't know, for sure, but he was still very angry. He'll cool down. Just give him time." Draco said, unaware that she honestly didn't know Mikey was still alive.

Her eyes filled with tears. "Thank you." She whispered sadly. 'He'd died angry at her.' She bowed her head and cried on Harry's shoulder. Draco nodded and left. As slim as she still was, he had spotted the cause of the rumor. It did look like she had a very small baby bump starting. He smiled. His cousin was going to be a father.

Soon the train pulled in at Hogsmeade and the students began to unload. As always, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny grabbed a wagon. This year, Seamus, Lavender and Luna were also in the wagon with them.

Hermione had sought out Seamus and Lavender as soon as they reached King's Cross Station. It wasn't hard. They were standing in a corner, by themselves. Nobody was talking to them nor looking at them. Hermione asked them to sit with her on the train. They smiled gratefully at her. Seamus had faired better than Lavender. He was half muggle so his mum just drove him to an old abandoned campsite for his transformations and picked him up afterwards.

As Hermione had feared, Lavender had been thrown out and disowned by her family. She had sought out Seamus, who begged his mum to let her stay with them. Seeing as they were already dating and intended to marry anyway, Mrs. Finnegan happily agreed as long as they didn't move out anytime soon. She wanted them to stay at home for a while longer.

Harry and Ginny. Seamus and Lavender. Two happy couples that she didn't have to worry about anymore. They reached the courtyard and disembarked. As they walked into the Great Hall, she looked around. It looked slightly different but not enough to be noticeable.

As she sat down at the Gryffindor table, someone sat down beside her. "Victoria? Is that you? How are you?" Hermione smiled at seeing the other girl. Victoria had been the first person who welcomed her on the train.

"Hermione! How are you? My gods, I've been so worried about you!" Vicky exclaimed. "Have you seen Mikey lately? Alex doesn't tell me anything in our letters. He only told me this morning to go to King's Cross Station and come here. He said something about threats and I'd be safer here than Diagon Alley."

Hermione laughed. It was so good to see Victoria again. She'd been worried about her, too. "Vicky? Were you truly hidden? Alex told me you were but that's all he said."

"Oh, that boy! He's so closemouthed sometimes. I was with a group of people, we were trying to get back to the muggle world. We were snatched. We didn't realize the man leading us was taking us to a drug den. They were going to drug us and send us off to different corners of the world. There were five of us girls and two boys. Alex and Mikey caught up with us. Took him into custody and took the rest of them to muggle London. Alex took me to his apartment in the Alley. That's where I've been ever since, until this morning." Victoria hugged Hermione tightly. She looked entirely too thin.

"What about you, Hermione? You look as though a stiff breeze would blow you over." Hermione shifted uneasily. "We were snatched. Harry, Ron and myself. We were taken to the Malfoys and questioned by Bella. She was going to torture me but Mikey stepped in and wouldn't let her. Somehow, we all escaped and we stayed at his camp for a while. We got separated and that's it."

Victoria sensed there was more, much more, to the story but she could wait. Hermione looked as though she was a wrong word away from crying. It was enough that they were both here.

Hogsmeade

Alex came back from the bar with a third bottle of firewhiskey. This one was for later, though. Mikey had already downed most of two bottles. If he drank any more, Alex would have to carry the boy into the castle on his back and the boy was entirely too big for a piggyback ride.

They left after making sure to give the students time to get there and settled in. Alex Apparated them from Hogsmeade to the gate. Filch was standing there with a roll of parchment. They were the last ones. One other person was on the list but, as she'd already come earlier that day, with their arrival, the gates closed firmly behind them. Filch shook his head as he smelled the whiskey. "No drinking in the castle, boys, not that you'll listen to me but I'm required to say it."

Alex chuckled at him. 'Poor Filch, nobody ever listened to him.' They entered the castle and stood just outside the Great Hall. They had passed a stream of students coming out, no doubt the lower grades getting sent to the dormitories. That meant the only ones left should be just the sixth and seventh year students and the teaching staff. Not so bad, unless one considered that most of these students had probably been truants last year and gotten hauled back here by him and Mikey, at some point. They wouldn't be too thrilled to see them now.

He took a deep breath and shook his arms. "Oi, you ready, mate?"

Mikey drained the last swig out of the whiskey and vanished the bottle. He eyed the door, uneasily. Then he looked at his cousin. "Fuck it, let's do this shit!"

As Filch shook his head, laughing at them, the door opened and the boys strolled in. They strutted down the aisle between the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables. Halfway to the front of the hall, Alex spotted Hermione, sitting right beside his beloved Victoria. He debated for a moment, then elbowed Mikey. The whiskey had calmed him down a lot. Enough that he wasn't fighting mad anymore, at least.

Mikey looked and saw her. She watched him approach. Checking her out, he could see that the pictures hadn't done her any justice. She was stunning. He looked into her chocolate brown eyes and greeted her.

"Hello, beautiful."

So now we're full circle and back at Hogwarts. It took much time and frustration to get this chapter typed. My tablet didn't want to cooperate and I almost gave up on the whole thing but all's good again. I found the right chapter so the story can go on now.


	19. so begins another year

So begins another year

Ok, guys and dolls, we're going into a new school year. Will it be calm or eventful? We shall see. How will our boys and girls deal with Umbridge this time? Ideas welcome. Any prompts welcome, too. I might or might not be able to incorporate them. If I do, I will credit your idea or prompt😊 I'm thinking of letting our resident Aurors (Mikey and Alex), along with the returning boys, pull an all year prank war on Filch (harmless pranks) and Umbridge (they know she's up to no good and they want to (not kill her) just be rid of her).

As it grew late, McGonagall stood up to make another announcement. "I have been told by the Minister that from today until the last day of this year will be an engagement period. All couples MUST be married by the first of the year. Then you will be told your next deadline. All couples will still sleep in their Sorted dormitory until they are married, at which point living quarters will be set up."

"Hem, hem" Umbridge stood up and walked to the podium. "Beginning tomorrow morning, all students will be in a two hour Family Planning Class. We will be discussing deadlines, budgets and other things pertaining to family."

With that first 'hem, hem', Alex knew Mikey was going to hate being here. He hadn't liked Umbridge at the Ministry and he damn sure wasn't going to enjoy having her as a teacher! He watched, interested, as Mikey got bored, listening to the bint yammer on. He had already reached out once, just to see the ring he'd given Hermione. That had surprised Alex enough. Now, he was astounded as, once again, Mikey reached to Hermione, this time running his hand down her back. She shivered but turned around on her bench to face him.

Mikey had his left hand tucked under his right arm, as though he were cold. She remembered what his dad had said. 'He never shows his left hand, does he?' Alex had agreed. She took her napkin off the table and, visualizing what his fingerless glove had looked like, she transfigured the napkin. She now held a black glove in her hand. She offered it to him. He looked at her, wide eyed, then at the glove. How had she known? Was this she'd meant in her letter, letting him know they'd been close? He had actually shown her his mangled knuckles? He took the glove, hesitantly, and brought his left hand into view. She got her first good look at his hand. From the knuckles down, his fingers were normal. Knuckles up to the hand bone, they were twisted and noticeably crooked. A clear indentation of teeth prints on the outside of his hand showed where Fenrir had bitten him. She reached out, half expecting him to yank away from her, and took the glove, sliding it onto his left hand. Then she turned her attention to Umbridge, still holding his hand. Mikey turned towards the front and half listened, leaving his cousin dumbfounded.

"Great, learning how to be lovey-dovey, ugh!" Mikey curled his lip, disgustedly. Alex laughed. He turned and took Vicky's hand. "Do you see that?" Pointing at Mikey and Hermione's joined hands. "He NEVER does that! Not once have I ever seen him holding hands with a girl, until he caught her!" As he paid closer attention to Hermione, he noticed something different about her. He leaned closer to Victoria and whispered quietly. Her eyes widened and she gasped. She whispered back and he nodded. Hermione was talking to Harry and Ginny, about some point Umbridge had stressed, and Mikey was talking to Draco and Marcus about Quidditch, already bored with her speech again.

"Gods, I just thought, Filch will be in class with us, mate! We'll have to prank him." Mikey turned to Alex. "Yeah, maybe we can cut a deal with Peeves, he always enjoys tormenting Filch!" The cousins laughed wickedly and slapped hands.

Upon hearing that exchange, Hermione rolled her eyes. 'Of course, he'd turn out to be a prankster.' But she remembered that he and Alex had been more mischievous than Fred and George before they'd left, so of course they were going to go right back to being mischievous. They would have to be sneaky about it now, though, because both of them now had parents in residence.

"All students will now return to your dormitories. Your classes will begin, bright and early, tomorrow."

The students stood up. Mikey pulled Hermione close to him. "So, you and me are matched. Are you mad about it?" he asked. "No, I'm not. I'm glad we were matched. Are YOU mad about us being matched?" she wondered. "No, I'm not mad. It'll take a bit of getting used to but I'm glad we were matched." He stopped at the bottom of her stairway.

"This is where we separate, I guess." Hermione said, stepping up on the first step. As she did, Mikey slid his arms around her and held her tightly to him as he buried his face in her hair. He took a deep breath.' Strawberries.' He smiled. "See you in the morning, beautiful."

Hermione wrapped her arms around him, holding him closely. "You'll still be here tomorrow? You won't leave again?" she was afraid to let him go.

"I'll be here. I'm not going anywhere. You'll not be rid of me anytime soon, I'm afraid." He said teasingly, trying to get her to smile. She was looking sad.

"Hem, hem. All students are to go to their dormitories, Mr. Scabior, not dilly dallying in the hallways. I see you are still having trouble keeping away from the ladies. Twenty points from Slytherin and detention, I believe, will fix the problem." Came a sickly sweet voice from behind him. He stiffened and felt Hermione start to pull away.

Hermione backed up and looked at him questioningly. He shrugged. "I wasn't exactly celibate after I left school, Granger. I didn't have anything to look forward to and no reason to hold back." That's when she realized how deeply she had hurt him and why he still didn't trust her now. 'If she had only listened and not rejected him, he would have had something to look forward to and a reason to hold back.' As it was, she had no reason or excuse to jump on him for turning to the arms of other girls after he left.

"You have me, now. We have a future to look forward to and every reason to hang on, now." She smiled at him.

"Did you not hear me say no dilly dallying in the hallways? Maybe I should inform your parents?" Umbridge hissed at him.

"Go ahead, you pink arsed toad, they're right behind you. And the girl I'm talking to is my future wife, so back up off me, you old biddy!" he snapped. Alex and the other boys were lined up against the wall, holding their mouths to keep from laughing out loud. Snape and the other teachers were standing in the door to the Great Hall, looking amused. McGonagall stepped forward. "I must tell you, Dolores, the point system has been changed. We feel that the sixth and seventh year students will be mature enough to follow the rules. Therefore, only fifth year and lower will have points deducted. Detentions still apply to the upper classmen, however, only if there is a justifiable reason for it."

"He is showing disrespect to a teacher. Name calling, I believe, is a justifiable reason, is it not?" Umbridge was seething.

"I believe you started that little war of words, Dolores, therefore there is no reason for detention, at this time." McGonagall stated.

Umbridge let out a noisy huff of annoyance. "Come, Argus, let's leave this crowd to their disrespectful ways." Looking terrified, Filch obediently hurried after her, poor Mrs. Norris still clutched tightly to his chest.

After their footsteps faded away, a clear voice spoke up. It was Alex. "Damn, Mikey, you should have let her grab your arse a couple of times at the Ministry."

"If that fucking old biddy would have grabbed my arse at the Ministry, I'd have fucking shredded her and scattered her all over the city!" Mikey snarled angrily.

Hermione giggled at the thought of Dolores Umbridge shredded and scattered all across London. Mikey looked back at her and grinned. It seemed they both had a serious dislike of their new teacher. She stepped closer and held out her arms for one more hug. He reached for her and repeated his earlier statement. "Good night, beautiful, I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight, handsome," she whispered softly in his ear. Then she ducked her head, blushing. He chuckled and released her. They turned and went their separate ways. Harry, Ron, Ginny and the Gryffindor students followed her up and Alex, Draco, Marcus and the other Slytherins followed him down to the dungeons.

Once in the Gryffindor common room, Ron started moaning about being future brothers in law with Malfoy. Neville sat shell shocked. Oliver and Alicia tried to console Angelina and Katie. Harry and Ginny sat with Hermione on the couch in front of the fireplace. Vicky was sitting in the armchair.

"Hermione, I don't mean to be nosey but Alex was asking me about it. Are you,,,,?" she pointed at Hermione's belly. It was just barely taking on a small curve. Hermione nodded, "But you can't tell anyone. I want to tell Mikey first but I'm going to need to regain his trust first."

Vicky smiled, "I know a couple of ways to do that. 'Be nice to his elf, Peach, she's free and he loves to buy her little outfits. Learn how to make hot cross buns, those are his absolute favorite dessert. Last but not least, let him do little things for you, like holding the door, carrying your bag and helping you up the stairs because I KNOW him and Ally are going to want us there when they practice Quidditch, even though we're Gryffindor's.' Those are just a few ways. Most importantly, no matter how well you can defend yourself, let him protect you. That's not only one of his family traits, that's also a trait both he and Ally picked up from Greyback as wolves. We are not only going to be their wives but also their mates, according to their tradition in the wolf pack. The males are always protective of the females, even knowing they can take care of themselves."

"There's so much about him I don't know, so much I want to find out about him." She fiddled with a curl of hair that had fallen out of her loose bun.

"Same with Alex, I think they've been taught from a young age not to ask or answer too many questions. As I said, he's very closemouthed, too." Vicky thought about what little Alex had told her about him and Mikey. According to him, Mikey had gotten the worse end of the deal. They hadn't been supposed to live, according to Greyback. Voldemort had Imperio'd him to bite them but Bella had Imperio'd him to kill them. It was just blind luck on their part that, when he saw them, he'd been reminded of his lost boys and fought the Imperio, sparing them from death but not lycanthropy.

Then they'd been tricked into the dark mark. Alex said he truly believed that Voldemort had either hated Mikey or just wanted to test his limits to the extreme. Either way, several times, he'd literally almost killed the boy. Of course Mikey being a smart mouthed, sassy little shit hadn't helped matters at all. Be that as it may, even Snape and the Malfoys had agreed that the 'punishments' he was subjected to, more often than not, far exceeded the reason he was being punished in the first place.

"I think I know why you misunderstood him when he was trying to tell you about the training program. He and Ally were the only students invited to participate. They weren't supposed to tell anyone about it, not even their own families. With the secrecy spell on him, Mikey would have a very hard time, attempting to tell you what he'd be doing." Hermione teared up, remembering how confused she'd been, before happening on what SHE"D stupidly thought he was telling her.

How could she have ever thought the boy would willingly follow Voldemort? He hadn't cared a bit more than anything about her being Muggleborn, despite being a pureblood himself.

Vicky shifted over to the couch and held the younger witch. "Don't cry, Hermione, he wouldn't want you to be upset. He's coming back to you, I promise. Downstairs, when he let you put that glove on him and hold his hand? He's never done that before. Don't you remember? Even the girls he went about with here, complained that he was never affectionate with them, never would hold hands or anything? It absolutely astounded Alex when Mikey did that, he's literally never done that before, not until he caught you!"

Hermione sat up straight, hope stirring inside of her. Maybe it wasn't too later for her and Mikey. "I should tell him about the baby straightaway, then. He needs to know before someone slips up and blurts it out in front of him." She could almost see the hurt look on his face if that happened. He'd think she deliberately didn't want him knowing.

"We still have a few minutes before we patrol, don't we? I need to see if I can tell him, tonight." Hermione declared. Vicky stood up. "Well, no time like the present, right? I believe our patrol will take us right past the Slytherin common room. Maybe we can talk him and Ally into patrolling with us." She grinned slyly. Hermione laughed out loud. "You, Miss Vicky, should have been in Slytherin!"

They left and started down the stairs. As they came closer to the main lobby, they realized Snape was there, along with Mikey's dad and an older wizard. They turned and watched the girls descend the stairs.

"Is that her?" asked the older wizard.

"Yes, that would be your future granddaughter-in-law.' Mike replied. The older man waited until Hermione was walking toward them, then he stepped forward. "Good evening, my name is Michael Scabior, Sr. I understand you are engaged to my grandson. It's a pleasure to meet you. My wife is looking forward to meeting you as well. We are going to be in Hogsmeade for the first Hogwarts visit. Mikey's great grandparents will be here, then. They miss the boy when he isn't around."

Hermione held out her hand. "Good evening, yes, I'm Hermione Granger. I'm pleased to meet you. I look forward to meeting some more of Mikey's family. He's a special boy."

Michael smiled and turned back to his son and Snape. Hermione and Vicky started down the corridors to the dungeons. They came to a portrait of Salazar Slytherin, who wrinkled his nose in disaste at having to speak to Gryffindors, but still sent Mikey and Alex out.

The boys came out, looking confused, until they saw who it was. Victoria winked at Hermione, nodded at Mikey, then grabbed Alex by the hand and pulled him a short distance away. Mikey watched them curiously, then turned his attention back to Hermione.

She was suddenly nervous. It was one thing to say she needed to tell him. She discovered it was quite another thing to actually have him in front of her, waiting for her to speak.

"Um, hi. I have something I need to tell you but I don't know how to say it." She sighed. "Do you remember, you wrote me, asking how close we had been? You were surprised that I knew about your hand. This past year, it's so hard to explain." She looked around and spotted a bench against the wall. "Sit with me?" they walked to the bench and sat down. She wasn't used to Mikey being this quiet. He sat down, propping one leg on the bench, turned sideways, facing her.

"Harry, Ron and I were on the run this past year. I knew you were a Snatcher and so we tried to stay in the city as long as we could. Then we broke into the Ministry, lost our safe house and ended up in the woods. I saw you that night. Your group had caught two people, a man and a woman. All of you walked right by me. But you are the only one who turned back. You smelt my perfume."

As she talked, she watched his face. His eyes were very expressive. They narrowed, then widened as she spoke. When she mentioned her perfume, he smiled and leant forward, pulling her against him and burying his face in her hair. She chuckled, "That's what gave us away when you finally caught us. You could care less that you possibly had Harry Potter or Ron Weasley, but you came right to me and smelt my hair. You saved my life at Malfoy Manor. You took a poisoned blade for me and got me out of there. We stayed at your camp until you were summoned. Then it all went bad. Voldemort took control of you and ruined our happiness then. We have another chance now. You and I, we were together, that's when you gave me the ring. You also gave me this."

Mikey's eyes widened even more as she began unbuttoning her shirt. She pulled the tops apart enough for him to see the beginnings of the tattoed dragon he had put there. He paled. "Baso Novio." He whispered, softly. 'Damn, his pap didn't know Mikey even knew how to cast the spell. He'd told him about the spell, years ago. He'd kill him, knowing he'd used it on an unwilling girl. And she had to have been unwilling, seeing as how he'd 'captured' her. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I can't remove the tattoo. He never told me a counter curse for removing it."

Hermione cupped his face. "I don't want you to remove it. It's the most beautiful tattoo I've ever seen. I just wanted to show you how close we were. You gave me this and told me we were engaged. I'm so glad that we are, it would have broken my heart if you had been matched to anyone else. It makes it easier to tell you this but also harder because I know you don't have anymemories of how close we were, at the moment.

"What ARE you trying to say Granger?" he looked at her.

Hermione closed her eyes and prayed for strength, then she opened them and returned his gaze. "Mikey, I'm pregnant."


	20. revealations and recovered memories

Revelations and Recovered Memories

Mikey deals with the bombshell announcement and faces a boggart. Hermione meets Peach. Sorry for the late update on this story, it took a while for my muse to tell me how she wanted the story to go.

Mikey sat there, stunned. 'P-preg-? What?!' he shook his head. "What? Y-you're –what?!" he stammered. She was staring at him, pleadingly. He took a deep breath and huffed it out. "I-uh, I don't know what to say, Granger, uh, are-are you ok? Is everything going alright, uh, I guess?"

Hermione was starting to regret this. She'd known it was a bad idea. Why she'd let Vicky talk her into doing this, she didn't know. Mikey wasn't ready for this. 'Gods, she was such an IDIOT!' she ducked her head, he wasn't ready for any responsibility yet. She stood up and looked down at him, "I'm sorry. I just thought you should know."

She walked away, quickly. She was almost back to the stairs when she heard light footsteps running up behind her. She turned around, quickly. Mikey pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Granger, I'm an idiot. You caught me by surprise. It's ok. This is good, right? I mean, we ARE going to be married. So we're just getting a jumpstart on our family, right? This will work, I promise, we'll be ok."

He stroked her hair. She wrapped her arms around him. "You're not angry? I forgot to do a contraceptive spell."

"You weren't the only one in that tent, Granger. I forgot, also. I think I remembered once after that first time but it must have happened that first time, right, for it to hit you this quickly? It wasn't only your fault, we BOTH forgot." He squeezed her gently. It was only after she gasped that Mikey realized what he'd said. "Granger? That was a memory of us, wasn't it? One that I hadn't remembered yet?"

Hermione took a shaky breath. "Yes, that was a memory of us. It was a few months ago, when you first caught Harry, Ron and me. Shall I tell you more of what happened?"

He nodded. She began speaking. "When you caught us, you had me up against a tree. You were using me to get Harry to tell Greyback why we were in the woods and not hidden away, somewhere." He stopped her there. "What was I doing to you?"

She chuckled. "You were playing with my hair, memorizing me from the waist up, kissing me. Neither Harry nor Ron were happy about it. You basically couldn't keep your hands off of me." He laughed out loud, imagining Potter and Weasley, pissed off at him.

"Right before we went to Malfoy Manor, you took me into your tent. That's when you put the tattoo on me and gave me the ring." Miley stopped her again. "If I used Baso Novio, then we had sex, didn't we? It's required in order to finish the bonding process. That was your first time, wasn't it?"

She nodded. "You apologized for having to rush my first time. You told me that wasn't at all how you intended my first time to be."

"I can vaguely recall something about a hotel, room service, lots of candles and dinner for two. We can still make that happen, actually." He grinned wickedly at her. She blushed and giggled. By that time, they were leaning against the wall. He lifted her up and carried her back to the bench. He leaned back and kept her in his lap. She reached up and ran her hands through his hair. She was especially fascinated by the bright red braid. "Is this a family trait? I noticed your father and grandfather also had it."

"Yeah, my great grandpa has it, too. Don't know where it came from. None of the rest of his family had it. It started with him and came down the line." Mikey had never thought of his braid as a family trait, but he realized it had to be, just like Alex had the Malfoy white-blond hair, though he was a McKeon.

"Feeling better, now? I'm sorry for upsetting you. Like I said, it took me by surprise. It shouldn't have, really, but it did. Does anyone else know?" he dreaded to hear how many people had known before him. "Harry, Ron, Ginny, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, my parents. Other people suspect but those are the only ones who know for sure, only because they're the ones I've been around the most this summer." She reassured him. She had been so sure Mikey was going to reject her, because of the baby, but he seemed like he was going to be able to adjust to fatherhood.

"I have a feeling that children were our next deadline, anyway, so we're already ahead of schedule. Except for having skipped past the marriage, but that can be easily corrected. Do you want a large wedding or a small one?" he asked, nuzzling her ear. She laid her head back, granting him easier access.

"Hem, hem. What have we here, a prefect falling down on the job? Tsk,tsk, Miss Granger. What a naughty girl you still are! I'm sure Headmistress McGonagall will be less than pleased to hear that one of her precious Gryffindor's was out lollygagging, instead of patrolling. Shall we go tell her now?" they jumped apart as Umbridge suddenly appeared before them. Mikey rolled his eyes as Hermione reluctantly rose from his lap. She suddenly leaned down and whispered into his ear. "Book that hotel. Soon." She kissed him and straightened up. She turned, defiantly, towards Umbridge and swept a hand before her. "After you, Professor Umbridge."

Umbridge narrowed her beady eyes at Hermione. "Mr. Scabior will need to go as well as you will both receive detention. I may not be able to take points for your disgraceful actions but I can give detentions!"

As they came into sight of the Great Hall, Ron and Ginny came down the steps. "Mione? What's going on?" Ron asked, confused.

"My fiancé and I were 'caught' behaving 'disgracefully', now we're being taken to the principal's office." Hermione snapped.

Ginny shook her head as she met Mikey's eyes. He crossed his eyes and wrinkled his nose, then jerked his thumb over his shoulder. Ron snorted with laughter. They watched, with amusement, knowing Hermione hated being in trouble and knowing how much she hated Umbridge.

No sooner were they out of sight than Alex and Vicky came running up the steps. They had thought to give Hermione and Mikey enough space to talk. They hadn't counted on getting distracted themselves, but they had run into Peeves tormenting a first year and had to call the Bloody Baron to make him leave the firsty alone. By the time they got everything figured out, Mikey and Hermione were no longer in sight.

"Have you seen-?" Vicky started to ask.

"Hermione and Mikey? Yes, they just got caught by Umbridge, 'Behaving disgracefully', " Ginny laughed, "Now they're being marched to McGonagalls office to decide how to make their lives miserable with detention."

"Did Mikey look upset? Were they ok?" Alex asked. Ron snorted again. "He was upset at Umbridge catching them. He didn't seem upset at Hermione, though. Why?"

Vicky answered. "She was going to tell Mikey about the baby. She didn't want anyone slipping up and blurting it out in front of him. She was afraid he'd reject her because she's pregnant."

Alex sniggered, "Like that would actually keep Mikeys hands off of her." They all looked at him. "What? He's crazy about the girl. Just because she's got a bun in the oven, that won't stop him."

McGonagall was sitting at her desk, across from her sat Pandora Scabior and Renee McKeon. At the knock on the door, McGonagall called, "Come in."

She was surprised to see Hermione Granger walk in, followed by Mikey Scabior. She shook her head and face-palmed as the two of them were followed in by Umbridge. "Dolores, what has happened now?"

"These two students were,,,CANOODLING,, right in the hallway, right where everyone could see them. They were setting a bad example. Just imagine if a first or second year had seen them! And Miss Granger is a prefect, for goodness sake! I must insist they have detention, Minerva!" Umbridge had built up a full head of steam on the walk to the office.

Mikey had taken one look at who else was in the room and groaned. 'Gods, he was in so much trouble! Mum and Aunt Renee were having tea with the headmistress. His dad and uncle were standing in a corner, talking to Uncle Sev and Grandpa! Of ALL the times he could possibly get in trouble this year, it had to be with Umbridge and, of course, his whole family would have to be here!"

Hermione heard the groan and looked back at him, questioningly. He leaned forward, "Don't say a word. I'll take the blame. No need for us both to get detention. Give the old toad her pound of flesh." He whispered into her ear.

"Miss Granger, Mister Scabior, is this true? What have you to say?" asked the headmistress, knowing it was bound to be a good one, especially as a Scabior was involved.

"All we were doing was talking. She needed to tell me something important. I was hugging her, real close. Then SHE showed up and made a mountain out of a molehill! What's wrong with hugging your girlfriend?" he demanded, turning to look at Umbridge.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was so important that it couldn't wait until tomorrow?" McGonagall asked.

Mikey started to answer, then looked at Hermione and raised his brows, eyes flicking to his family and back. Hermione nodded. 'They would find out sooner or later, anyway. The hard part, telling Mikey, was already done.'

"I'm going to be a dad." Mikey figured it'd be better to just bluntly tell them. "WE forgot to protect ourselves a couple months ago. It's ok, though, because we're going to be married now." He finished defiantly.

Everyone froze. Of course, they'd known he'd held the girl captive in his camp. And, him being a typical young man, her being a pretty girl, they'd also known there was the possibility of him sleeping with her. It just hadn't occurred to any of them that both Mikey and Hermione would forget to cast a Contraception charm.

Suddenly, Michael began to laugh. The others looked at him. "This isn't the worst thing in the world, people, stop looking like your best friends died. So they've put the cart in front of the horse! That's nothing that a wedding can't put right. They were going to be required to produce children anyway, right?" he looked at McGonagall, who nodded.

"Well, be THAT as it may, they still have to serve detention for lollygagging when she was supposed to be patrolling the castle! I insist!" demanded Umbridge.

"I'll serve detention but she shouldn't have to. She was trying to go patrol and I kept distracting her." Mikey declared. Hermione, remembering his whispered instructions, remained silent.

"Well, Dolores, there you go. Mr. Scabior is willing to serve detention. He needs a day and a time." McGonagall told Umbridge.

It was clear to everyone in the room that Mikey was protecting Hermione and that Dolores Umbridge was furious about not being able to put Hermione into detention as well. But she was on the losing end, so she cut her losses while she was ahead. "Friday afternoon, five o'clock sharp." She snapped. Then she stomped out of the room.

Mikey looked at his family and smiled weakly. "Surprise!"

McGonagall, Mrs. Scabior and Mrs. McKeon all converged on Hermione. Mikey was sent to the corner with his male relatives. She was terrified but all they wanted to do was introduce themselves and make sure Mikey was being good to her. Evidently, he had made his displeasure known to his family. She assured them he was being good. They still had a few issues they needed to talk about but they were in as good a shape right now as they could be. Mikey's dad and granddad hugged him and congratulated him. Uncle Severus congratulated him on being the first father of the new law.

After all the excitement was over, Mikey was walking Hermione back to the Gryffindor tower. She was seriously rethinking her decision to let him take detention in her place. "Are you sure? I can still go and offer to do detention for Umbridge."

"Don't you dare! That old toad hates me and isn't too fond of you, from the looks of it. She'd come up with something to make you hurt yourself." Mikey said.

As they came into sight of the portrait of the fat lady, they could see a small crowd sitting in the hall. Everyone started cheering as soon as they came into sight. Harry and Ron jumped up and came to shake hands with him.

"Congratulations, Mikey! Until now, Me and Hermione were the number one targets on her list." Harry laughed. The Gryfindors all stood up and began to file through the door. Alex was there with Victoria.

"Well, what happened?" he asked.

"I've got detention with Umbridge. Friday afternoon, five o'clock sharp. I'd lay out of it but she'd make Granger do it, instead. I'm not taking that chance." Mikey sighed.

Alex hugged Vicky and sent her into the common room. He started sown the steps. "I'll wait for you at the bottom, Mikey."

Hermione leaned against the wall and, using the front of Mikey's robe, pulled him closer to her. "Are you sure you want to be paired with me? I'm a swotty, Gryffindor know-it-all who hates breaking the rules."

"Question is, will you survive? I tend to be somewhat of a trouble magnet, I never go looking for trouble but it always finds me." He chuckled.

"I think I will." She responded as she leaned towards him.

He reached down, tipped her chin up and kissed her. They quickly lost themselves in each other's arms. Next thing they heard was a quiet "Ahem." They pulled apart, groaning, to see who had caught them this time. To the surprise, Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris were standing near them, looking at the portraits. As he heard them pull apart, Mr. Filch made a show of observing that it was almost curfew, time for students to be in their common rooms. Then they wandered off down the hall.

"You know, he's not half bad. How the bloody hell did he get landed with Umbridge? She'd a bloody horror show!" Mikey wondered out loud. He shuddered, remembering the way she had stared at him, along with all the other Ministry ladies, when his gang would bring in a prisoner.

"So, future Mrs. Scabior, since you're friends with the Minister, think you might be able to find out how Filch landed up with the human toad?" Mikey knew, if anyone could find out, it would be his girl.

"I'm curious as to how he landed on the list, in the first place. He's a Squib, you know. I asked McGonagall about the law and that list was only to have proven magical witches and wizards, not Squib. The whole point of the law is to avoid Squib births." Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"You take care of the Minister. Me, Ally and the guys will take care of Umbridge." Mikey smiled mischievously. Hermione giggled as he sent her into the common rooms and went down to catch up with Alex.

The next morning was going to be the start of the dreaded Family Planning Class with Umbridge. For the second time in her school career, she found herself reluctant to attend a class. She dragged her feet on the way to the Great Hall. Once there, she saw there was a slightly different setting arrangement. There were still the four house tables but now there was a fifth table with the Hogwarts banner hung above it. This turned out to be where the eighth years would sit.

She noticed that none of the eighth year Slytherin boys had made an appearance yet. The door opened behind her. The eighth year boys came parading in. She turned around and snorted with laughter as she observed Alex with his wand out, levitating a sleeping Mikey. Evidently the boy was not a morning person. Alex gently lowered him to the bench beside her.

"Watch this, " muttered Blaise Zabini as he eased a piece of toast into Mikey's open mouth.

Alex shook his head, laughing, "He'll kill you, Zabini, he hates toast!"

Alex conjured a Tempus and set a countdown of five minutes. Glancing at the teachers table, Hermione observed that Mikey's dad had also set a Tempus. His mother, Aunt and McGonagall all had napkins pressed against their faces. Umbridge was looking on, disapprovingly. The entire Great Hall was so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone wanted to hear Scabior's reaction to the toast.

As the clock ticked down, Mikey started stirring. As the clock hit one, he bit down on the toast. Immediately he sat up, spit the toast into the floor and yelled, "What the bloody, fucking, hell! I fucking HATE toast!"

Except for Umbridge, there wasn't a dry eye in the place. Everyone burst out laughing, hysterically. Nope, this was definitely NOT going to be a quiet year. Hermione had both hands capped over her face. Mikey pulled her to him. "Sorry, love, I don't know if you remember but I should warn you that I'm a bit of a class clown."

They finished breakfast and held hands, walking out of the Great Hall. They went to the class. Umbridge was also there, along with Filch. Mikey side eyed Alex and muttered, "Told you he'd be in class with us." Alex nodded. Poor Filch looked miserable and Mrs. Norris kept trying to jump off the table.

"Seriously, mate, we got to rescue him! Nobody deserves that bloody horror show forced on them!" Mikey hissed at Alex.

Alex narrowed his eyes and cracked a wicked grin. "In honor of Fred Weasley! Pass it on!"

Pretty soon all the eight year boys were in on the plan to 'rescue' Filch from his ghastly future wife. The girls were giggling and helping Hermione compose a letter to Kingsley Shacklebolt about the matter. Nobody was really paying attention to the teacher and she quickly realized this. She set them to writing lines. A thousand lines, 'We must pay attention to our teacher,' seemed a small price to pay for not having to listen to her sickly sweet voice. Hermione stifled a laugh when she noticed Filch was also doing the lines, a look of relief on his face. Mrs. Norris, having determined that she wasn't going to escape, had laid down by Filch's elbow and fallen asleep.

Their next class was Defense of Dark Arts, with Professor Snape. As they settled down, Snape walked in, closing the door with a wave of his hand. In the front of the room stood a wardrobe. It rumbled and shuddered as the students eyed it warily.

"Today, students, we will be facing a boggart. Not only will we be facing them, we will be fighting them. In essence, we will be fighting out worst fears in this room today." He looked around and stopped on Mikey. "Mr. Scabior, you might want to refrain from this class, for the time being. As you still have uncovered memories, this lesson could very well cause you to have a setback."

"No, I'll take the lesson, sir." Mikey answered him solemnly. Snape nodded. He fired off two Patronus spells and motioned to Alex. He whispered to him and Alex nodded. Snape walked over to the wardrobe and prepared to open it. Mikey stood up and faced the wardrobe. Alex set a ward behind him, separating Mikey from the rest of the room. Snape set a ward around himself. Hermione was sitting almost directly behind Mikey, giving her the perfect view of his fears.

As the door opened, the boggart was just a swirl of black. Then as it swooped out, it began forming. She was surprised to see herself, standing in front of him, until she realized this was his memory from sixth year, when she hurt him so badly. It then swirled into another shape, Alastair Moody, yelling "Constant Vigilance, Scabior, Constant Vigilance! You wanna be the death of your cousin! Listen up and PAY ATTENTION!" After that, it swirled into the shape of Fenrir Greyback, causally stalking him in the tavern attack. Hermione was close enough to hear him panting heavily. He was stiffened into a crouch. She wanted to put her arms around him in comfort but if she was to touch him right now, she had a feeling he would consider it an attack and defend himself, violently. Suddenly it swirled again, this time taking the shape of Voldemort. It held a wand towards him. Its lips shaped the words "Imperio and Crucio," repeatedly. Mikey screamed, "Riddikulus!" and the class laughed as the Voldemort boggart's clothes suddenly went from black robes to a pink tutu, complete with ballet shoes. They slowly fell silent as Mikey grabbed two handfuls of hair, dropped to the floor and began screaming as if he were dying. It was clear that his memories had been rudely jarred free. Hermione jumped up but Alex held her back, shaking his head. He held the door open and the most adorable little house elf Hermione had ever seen toddled into the room.

"Peach," he knelt down and pointed at Mikey. "Your baby boy needs you again. He's down there."

The little elf hurried to the front of the room. They watched in awe as she gently straightened Mikey out, swaddled him into a thick blanket and put a warming charm on him. Then she set him to gently rocking in the air while she talked to Snape.

"Forgive me, Peach, I shouldn't have let him participate in the lesson. But he wanted to." Snape told her regretfully.

"Mys baby is stubborn, he is! He stubborn when hims little and him still stubborn." Peach told him. "I takes care of my baby. Him will be fine."

Alex called her attention to Hermione. "Peach, this is Mikey's future wife, Hermione."

Peach came to Hermione and hugged her. Then she looked at her closely. "Don't fret, miss, it not good for baby. Master Mikey will be fine. You take care of baby while I take care of master."

Hermione nodded, not surprised that the elf knew she was pregnant. Peach pulled the cocooned Mikey out of the room. As she left, Mikey's father and grandfather came in.

"What happened? How did he do?" Michael asked anxiously.

"He beat the boggart but it brought his memories out, violently. That's why I had Alex to summon Peach." The other men nodded. Peach would get the boy straightened out.

"Alex, where did she take him, can I see him after classes?" Hermione whispered. 

"Come down to the portrait of Salazar Slytherin. I'll let you to see him. She'll have taken him to the dormitory. As soon as classes are over. Bring Vicky." He muttered.

Hermione returned to her seat. It was going to difficult concentrating on the rest of her classes but could do it.


	21. detention

Detention

Hermione has detention with her father in law. Mikey recovers from yet another set of painful memories and aftereffects.

After classes were over, Hermione and Vicky set out for the Slytherin common room. They found themselves accompanied by Harry, Ron and Alex. They stopped at the portrait of Salazar Slytherin. Alex smirked as he gave the password, "Muggles rule!" The Gryffindors all laughed as the portrait began sputtering angrily. Alex winked at them. "McGonagall made the mistake of letting Mikey set the password. He's got a twisted sense of humor, sometimes!" they trooped into the common room. The Slytherins all gaped, wide eyed, at the lions within their territory. Alex led them up to the boys dormitory where they found Malfoy, Flint, Pucey and Zabini, working on homework, discussing Quidditch and generally keeping an eye on Mikey, still cocooned and in a deep, healing sleep.

"Oh, Umbridge is going to be furious! Mikey has a detention with her!" Hermione gasped. "I need to go tell her he won't be able to make it." She stood to leave as Mikey stirred weakly. "Granger? Is that you? Granger?" she changed direction and went to his side. "I'm here, Mikey." She stroked his hair. He opened one eye. "Has anyone told you how beautiful you are today?" he smiled faintly at her. She laughed. "No, they haven't, has anyone told you how handsome you are today?" he smirked. "No, but thank you, sweetie."

"I have to go tell Umbridge you won't be able to serve detention today. She'll have to wait until another day." Hermione told him.

"NO! She'll make you serve it in my place! She'll make you do something to hurt yourself! Tell my mum or dad to tell her, she can't go against a parent's authority, especially if the parent is another teacher." Mikey ordered. He panted, hating to be so weak, hating the memories that had laid him so low.

"Ok. I'll go find your dad. He might still have a class in session, though." She worried.

"Granger, my dad won't kill you for interrupting his class, especially if you tell him about my detention with Umbridge. He hates that old biddy as much as grandpa does. She tried to break up my grandfather and grandmother once. Have him tell you about it sometime. You'll get a kick out of how they got rid of her, dad and grandpa." He laughed weakly, remembering the story. His eye rolled back and he was out again.

"I'm going to find his dad, have him tell Umbridge Mikey can't do detention today." Hermione announced. As she left, Flint silently reached over and tapped Zabini, motioning him to follow and keep an eye on Hermione. Zabini nodded and left.

The rest of them sat there, talking for a while. The Gryffindor students, realizing how late it was getting, stood to leave. They were worried about Hermione. She hadn't come back and they knew it should only have taken her a few short minutes to find Mikey's dad. They decided to stop by Umbridge's classroom to see if she had gone ahead and told Umbridge the news directly.

Earlier

Hermione left the dungeon, unaware of being followed. She was headed for the Potions classroom. Professor Scabior should be wrapping up his class, right about now. Just before she could reach the door, however, she was stopped by none other than Umbridge.

"Where is Mr. Scabior? He's due in my classroom in three minutes, Miss Granger." Umbridge snapped.

"He won't be able to make it today. He fell ill in Defense class earlier today." Hermione cursed the fact of meeting the woman, just shy of the classroom. "He'll need to make it up another day."

"Well, since he can't make it, you'll have to serve your own detention, won't you, missy? He got you out of it, to start with. Too bad he isn't here now, isn't it, Miss Granger? Come along now, the sooner you serve it, the quicker you can leave." Umbridge turned back to her classroom, just up the hall, past Potions. Just as they passed the door, it opened and a group of first years spilled into the hallway.

Neither Umbridge nor Hermione noticed the teacher at the doorway, watching them with narrowed eyes. Zabini, who had panicked as soon as he saw Hermione stopped by Umbridge, quickly told him that Umbridge was going to make Hermione serve detention instead and Mikey was afraid Umbridge would make her hurt herself.

Umbridge entered her classroom, smiling sweetly. She pointed to a ladder, propped against a tall bookshelf. The ladder fell short of the top of the bookshelf and had three boxes of books floating beside it. "I need those books shelved, please. The top shelf. After that, I have more books that need to be alphabetized and shelved, also top shelf. Begin, please." She sat down at her desk and made herself a cup of tea. Hermione sighed and started towards the ladder.

Just then, the door opened. "I'll take over Miss Granger's detention." Said Professor Scabior. He'd heard her instructions as he neared the door. Umbridge tightened her lips. "No. Miss Granger will serve the detention or it will go on her permanent record as a demerit."

"No, she won't serve as it's NOT her detention. My son will serve his detention as soon as he is better. I'll be taking charge of Miss Granger's detention." Mike told her firmly.

"This is an outrage! She WILL stay here!" Umbridge stood up, reaching for her sleeve, intending to shut and seal the door.

Quick as a flash, Mike's wand was out and pointing at her. "My father warned me about you, you old bat. You might not remember me, Mike Scabior, father of Mikey, you tried to bust my dad and mum up! Now, I SAID Miss Granger will not be serving this detention with you! I'll take it from here. I'll be damned if I let you put the mother of my grandchild up on a fucking rickety ass ladder and try to stretch herself past her limits! Miss Granger, please follow me." He stood at the door, waiting until she passed him before he left, leaving behind an absolutely furious Dolores Umbridge.

They walked back down to the potions classroom. Hermione was curious as to what kind of detention she would have with her father in law. A very enjoyable one, as it turned out. "Sit" he ordered. He snapped his fingers and the adorable little house elf from Defense class popped in. "This is Peach. She was Mikey's nurse when he was younger. She still is his elf. She was freed right before his mother gave birth. After we brought him home, she practically monopolized him. My wife saw him long enough to feed him and I didn't get to hold him for more than a minute, at the most, before they were taking him away from me. I finally got to start holding him when he was six months old. Pretty sure they actually thought I'd drop him on his head or somersault him across the room, is why they wouldn't let me hold him." He said that last statement, teasing the elf.

Peach giggled and shook her head. She came to the side of Hermione's chair. "May I?" she asked politely, her hands hovering over Hermione's stomach. Hermione pushed her robes to her sides and nodded. Peach gently pressed down and moved her hands around. She was smiling. "Would miss like to know if she's having a little witch or wizard?"

Hermione's eyes widened. "You can already tell? I didn't think that was possible this early. I thought I had to be, at least, six months along before it showed anything?" 

"Elves can tell, miss. We's can hear and feel the essence of the little one. Did you wants to know?" Hermione nodded and let out a happy, gasping breath.

"It be a little wizard, miss. He be strong and healthy, like his daddy. Master Mikey will be pleased." Peach smiled adoringly at Hermione. She could already tell her young master was going to be happy with this young witch. "Peach will be allowed to help care for baby, miss?" she asked hopefully.

Hermione laughed, "Yes, Peach, you can help with the baby. I don't know if we could do it on our own without you." Peach beamed a happy grin. She snapped her fingers and a tea service appeared. Then she vanished.

"So, Miss Granger, how did you and my son meet, not recently, but the first time you met?" he asked her curiously. Hermione told him about meeting Mikey on the Hogwarts Express. How Mikey had offered her some Bertie Betts beans and Drooble's Best Blowing gum because she'd never tried Wizarding candy or gum before. How he'd defended her and intimidated Malfoy for calling her a Mudblood. Mike frowned at that. "Do you know why Mikey doesn't like that word?"

Hermione shook her head. "Molly Weasley said something about a scandalous beginning and the papers mentioned a Muggleborn mistress but Mikey's never mentioned anything. Of course, we have yet to make time for a serious discussion."

"That Muggleborn mistress is the woman my grandfather considers his true wife. He's married to a pureblood woman, Rowena, and has a child by her, but he also has a child by Emma. Alex is Rowena's great grandson. Mikey is Emma's great grandson."

Hermione's eyes were wide open. "So, Mikey's great grandmother is a Muggleborn? Like me?"

Mike nodded." And spoils him rotten, every chance she gets. Every time he goes to visit them, that woman makes him hot cross buns, whether it's Lent or not." He chuckled. "When we went there after the Battle, she had enough faith to pull the rest of us together. We were sure Alex and Fen would be bringing us our son's dead body. She didn't think so. She made a huge pan of hot cross buns because she said Mikey would be starving. When they brought him home, that's the first thing she did, was take him to the kitchen and feed him some hot cross buns."

Hermione smiled. "Vicky told me that was Mikey's favorite dessert. And I would need to learn how to make them. I don't know if they would be near as good as his great grandmas, though."

"Pandora has yet to be able to master them. She's tried countless times and gone step by step on my grandmother's recipe, but she's given it up for a lost cause." Mike's eyes were soft at the thought of his wife.

"He mentioned sisters one time. Something about they were killed by Death Eaters?" Hermione mentioned tentatively, not sure how Mike would respond.

"He and Alex had older siblings. Alex had an older sister named Alicia. Mikey's sisters were Michelle and Bridget." Mike snorted softly. "Mikey couldn't say their names clearly so he called them Chelle and Bird. He called Alicia 'Licia.' He loved his sisters but he would NOT let them touch him or pick him up. I think that stemmed from them treating him like a baby doll. They would dress him up, put makeup on him and push him around in a baby carriage. As soon as the boy could walk, he started hiding from them." He grinned, picturing his little boy, peeking out from under the table.

"My daughters were beautiful, Granger, they looked just like their mother. Gods, I loved them so much! Then we got Mikey and I had a little Quidditch player to raise. Michelle was just thirteen, Bridget was twelve. Alicia was sixteen. Did he tell you they died on his fourth birthday?" Mike looked sad.

Hermione shook her head, 'he'd only said he was four years old and could already see the thestrals when he got to Hogwarts'. Tears filled her eyes at that thought. "What happened? He said Death Eaters but he didn't tell me anymore than that."

"Voldemort tried to recruit our families. We refused. So, he decided to try and take our boys. From what we were able to figure out, Antonin Dolohov was secretly dating Alicia. He arranged to meet her at a park near our house in Ireland. He and Bellatrix Lestrange tried to talk the boys into leaving with them. When Mikey told them no and to go away, they killed the girls and tried to take the boys by force. Mikey fought them so hard, they decided to Crucio him. The bloody bitch and stupid bastard CRUCIOED my four year old son!" Mike was glaring fiercely. If Dolohov and Bella had been there, he would be killing them again, Hermione had no doubt of that. "They hit Alex a couple times but he said they mainly hurt Mikey."

Hermione remembered Alex and Mikey talking about how angry Mikey got over being Crucioed. "Mikey despises being Crucioed, he told me that much. Alex said Mikey tried to attack Voldemort a couple of times and Fen had to pull rank on him, to calm him down. Then Voldemort would punish him for it."

"Yeah, my boy has a lot of bottled up anger inside. He needs to let it out. Every time we unlock new memories, we make him sit down and talk about it. Or try to anyway. We've not had much luck yet but maybe you can get him to talk." Mike pulled his pocket watch out, checked the time and stood up. "Your detention is over, dear."

Hermione walked to the door and turned around. "I'll try to get him talking. I'm not sure I'll succeed."

"He's better with you. He smiled more last night than he has in a while, not since we've been unlocking his memories. You're good for him, I'm glad about that." Mike accompanied her out of the classroom. As it happened, Harry, Ron, Vicky and Alex were coming up the hall. They were relieved to see her with Mikey's dad. Alex squeezed Vicky from behind and headed back to Slytherin. The Gryffindors headed up the stairs.

Alex came into the dormitory in time to see Mikey stirring again. He started fighting the cocoon this time. It was the signal that he was on the road to recovery. Peach popped in, let him out of the swaddling and popped a tray of hot cross buns into view. All the boys eagerly reached for one.

"Ally, did Granger-?" he asked.

"She went to get your dad. Flint sent Zabini after her, good thing, too. Umbridge intercepted her before she reached him. Zabini told your dad what was happening, he went and got Granger. She served detention with him." Alex reassured him.

"I still have to do a detention with her. Ugh! I swear, Ally, she hands me a damn Blood Quill and I'll stab her with it!" he growled.

Alex laughed, "Yeah, that's why I'll be there with you, to keep her alive and you out of Azkaban."

Mikey glared at him. "You're going to protect her? Seriously?"

Alex raised his brows. "Just because I'm keeping her alive doesn't mean I'm protecting her." He raised his hand and showed Mikey what he was holding. It was a Quill but Mikey knew there had to be something more to it. Alex wouldn't be grinning like that over an ordinary Quill.

"Watch and learn, cousin." He pulled out a piece of parchment and began writing. As he wrote on the sheet, writing appeared across his forehead. Mikey laughed as he wrote 'Alex is brilliant.' Like a Blood Quill, it didn't use ink, unlike a Blood Quill, it didn't hurt when you wrote with it.

"It's brand new, straight from George Weasley, Potter's friend just brought it to us. Apparently he wrote George about Umbridge and he came up with this idea. The best part of this quill is, she'll never know where ALL it's writing, unless she looks in a mirror or reflective surface. It writes on paper just like a regular quill. While she's distracted, telling you what your detention is going to be, I'm going to switch this with her regular quill."

Mikey howled with laughter. "Brilliant, absolutely brilliant."

Alex washed his forehead and put the quill away until the next day. Just then, Mikey came up with a stupidly brilliant idea that he was sure would put him into detention for the rest of the year. As he spoke, the other eight years began laughing, cheering and clapping. They all went up to supper time. Mikey whispered to Alex, who burst out laughing. Hermione, who was already seated with Harry and Ron, just knew from that wicked cackle, they were up to something. He, Alex, Malfoy, Flint, Pucey and Zabini burst into song.

"Umbridge is our Queen

Umbridge is our Queen

The queen of mean

Ruins everything

Oh, Umbridge is our Queen!"

Once again, everyone in the Great Hall was laughing hysterically. Harry chanced a glance towards the doors and swore he caught a quick smile on Argus Filch's face. Umbridge was red faced and trembling with rage. "DETENTION, ALL OF YOU, DETENTION!" she screamed.

The Slytherins were proud of themselves. It quite redeemed the fact that they had been the bulk of Umbridge's Inquisition Squad just a couple years earlier. Harry and Ron were talking to Mikey and Alex. Alex was telling Ron to thank George for the quill which would be put into use the next day.

Thank you for the follows/favorites: Mummyof3muggles, mistycouch20141, GetTheeToBed, roon0, wintersong1954, bhalesfb, legislated, shortsingingm0m, Alana Fox, Sweetpea2100, Msmalloryreads, bunnyobelenus, nikkistew2, Deliahmarie, NymphadoraGranger95, FrostGrace, LauraB90, Youko's Little Girl, callerjn. Thank you all. Love you all.


	22. slytherin detention

Slytherin detention

Our favorite bad boys have landed themselves into more detention, what ARE they thinking? Will they get away with it? Mikey and Hermione view memories. Hermione gains a new understanding into Mikey's hatred of the Crucio curse. (Tigger warning: torture involving a child, this is why my boy hates the crucio btw)

After the epic entrance of the Slytherin boys, everyone was speculating as to how bad their detention would be. Mikey and the others looked at one another, bursting out laughing ever so often, at the plan they were setting in motion the next day. They refused to tell the girls on the grounds that, if questioned by Umbridge, the girls would be able to honestly answer, 'they had no clue of any wrongdoings'.

This would, especially, protect Hermione who, to the surprise of nobody in the group, had been named Head Girl. She protested, stating the position needed to go to one of the girls who had actually attended school last year. McGonagall overrode her objection, stating that with her grades (yes, she had actually graded all the work Hermione had done while on the run), Hermione was already a shoe-in for Head Girl, even before she left Hogwarts.

Slytherin house was quite pleased to have one of their own named as Head Boy, even though it wasn't the one they expected. Everyone had thought it would be Draco, as he and Hermione had been the top two students, year after year. He reminded them, though, that last year and the year before, his grades had slipped quite badly, therefore it was only right that the next best student be named. With that said, he turned and congratulated Blaise Zabini on making Head Boy. Zabini smiled proudly. He'd never thought he would have that title. He insisted, though, he would only accept Head Boy as long as Draco was still a prefect. As soon as that was settled, they all laughed at the irony of both the Head Boy and a prefect both being in detention for the same offence.

Speaking of said offence, everyone left the Great Hall that night, singing the little ditty the boys had come up with. They tried to give Mikey credit for the song but he insisted he had only thought of the idea.

The next day, they were all back in Umbridge's classroom, listening as she lectured them on the importance of the china pattern and color schemes for their homes. Most of the students were, halfway asleep at their desks, some were openly asleep, very few were actually paying her any attention. Realizing that what little attention she was getting would likely be the only attention she got, she continued her lecture with no detentions handed out. She did, however, give out boatloads of homework to the students who had not listened, ironically, most of the class.

During Defense class, Mikey once more stood up and fought the boggart, this time having a much easier time, now that he had no unlocked memories to worry about. Hermione was determined to help him talk about his memories and release some of the pent up anger he was suppressing.

She asked Vicky what she thought would help. Vicky told her of making Alex put his memories into a pensieve, viewing them with her, then talking about them afterwards. Hermione went to the Room of Requirement and had it set up a small intimate scene that, she hoped, would help Mikey feel relaxed enough to trust her in. After classes and before his detention, she led him up there.

"We only have a few minutes right now but I wanted to show you this. I want to help you trust me again. I'm sorry about calling you a junior death eater. That was my mistake and a total misunderstanding on MY part." She showed him the small table with the pensive set up. "After you're done with detention, I want to come back up here and share some of my memories with you. Then, maybe you could share some of your memories with me."

Mikey looked at the pensieve, then at her. He nodded without speaking. He wanted to show her that he was beginning to trust her again, just a bit. He pulled her closer as he inspected the rest of the room. It was set up as a small drawing room. He smiled as he looked into an empty corner, where a bed immediately shimmered into existence. He led her out of the room before she could turn around and see the new addition he had added.

She headed for the library to work on homework as he headed to detention. He smiled as he thought of what the pink toad had coming to her in there. The other boys were already lined up outside. He looked at Alex, who grinned and patted his pocket. The other boys quietly sniggered. The door opened and she stood to the side as the boys filed in.

"Hem, hem. Today you will all be reviewing what you should have been paying attention to, this morning. By the time this detention is over, I will expect all of you to have a china pattern picked out as well as color schemes for your future homes." All the boys groaned disgustedly. 'Ugh, wasn't that geared more for the wives?' But they all dutifully shuffled forward, taking a pattern book and color scheme chart back to their tables and settling down, quietly.

At a signal from Alex, Malfoy and Flint both raised their hands and drew Umbridge to the back of the room, away from her desk. Alex slipped up to her desk, transfigured the trick Quill to look exactly like her quill and laid it down on her desk. He took her quill and slid back to his desk as she started back to her desk. They watched, unobtrusively, as she sat down, picked up the quill and began writing. They all began coughing to cover their laughter as she wrote 'the little beasts are quite angry. Good. They are quite ghastly!'

There was a knock at the door as it opened, revealing Professor McKeon. Alex groaned and covered his face. Fortunately for him, his dad was taking a sip of his tea as he walked in. He almost spit out his drink as he caught sight of her face, but caught himself and simply said, "Headmistress McGonagall requests your presence, she asked that I supervise your detention until you get back." Umbridge nodded and stood up. "They aren't to leave until they have a china pattern and color schemes chosen." He nodded and set down at her desk, carefully avoiding her quill. After she was out of the room, he had Zabini check to make sure she was out of hearing range. Then they all died laughing. "I really should confiscate this quill," he threatened, "but, damn, I want to see how long it takes her to catch on!"

After hearing that she was summoned by the Headmistress, they waited to see if McGonagall would give them away. Umbridge retuned a few minutes later, however, seemingly unaware of the writing across her forehead. Each boy had picked a different pattern and colors randomly, just to be able to escape the classroom.

Knowing if they left before Mikey, he was liable to follow through on his threat to kill Umbridge, the other boys took an extra long time to pick. They ended up staying, not only for their hour long detention, but Mikey's detention as well. They all gathered behind and around him, as they passed in their assignments. They were determined that he was going to make it out of there without gaining another detention.

In a way, Mikey was glad his detention was over, in another way he wasn't, because now Hermione was going to want him to talk about his memories. He just wasn't sure if he had the strength to talk about them, NOT get angry and possibly hurt her. But he went to the library to let her know he was out of detention now. As he walked into the library, she was sitting at a table near the back, Potter, Weasley and female Weasley with her. He almost turned and went right back out, but she looked up, saw him and waved. He went to the table, sat down with her and slung his arm across the back of her chair. She was just finishing the essay set for them by Professor Snape, in Defense this morning.

He couldn't help but admire how beautiful she was and how lucky he was that the Sorting hat chose her for him. Had she been chosen for anyone else, he would probably have killed her match and shredded the hat, to boot, landing himself right back in Azkaban. Yes, he was just that obsessed with her. He thought about his memories and decided that he would try and share, at least, some of the less hurtful and painful memories with her. She was right. Alex had told him the same thing, 'that he had to let out some of his repressed anger or he'd end up hurting someone.' He didn't want that someone to be her. So, he was going to try it her way.

Hermione was happy to see him. He looked calm, so Umbridge must not have tried to antagonize him. She knew, from Harry, that the woman had done that very thing before. Every time Harry had detention with her, she would say or do something to get a rise out of him, in order to KEEP giving him detention. She possibly had considered it, then decided not to, seeing as how Mikey was so much more unpredictable than Harry.

She gathered her books and papers into her bag, telling the others they would see them at dinner. As she stood up, Mikey grabbed her bag and slung it over his shoulder. She let him, remembering Vicky had told her 'that's one thing he'll want to do for you, let him.' She hid a smile and led the way to the Room of Requirement. When she got to the door, he opened it and guided her in. She was startled to see a bed in the corner of the room. She didn't remember that from earlier.

He dropped her bag onto the couch and went to the small table. He put his wand to his temple and drew out a memory. "A little funny memory, before we start, aye?"

She seated herself and they dropped into the memory together.

_They were in a large drawing room. There was a man there, for a moment Hermione thought it was Mikey before she saw the brown eyes. It was Mikey's dad and he was smiling, looking down at the table. She looked down and, there, peeking from under the table, was a very young Mikey, 'hiding from his sisters' she recalled from his dad. His dad laid a finger across his lips and motioned the little boy back. Just in time, too as they heard "Mikey, Mikey! Come out, come out, wherever you are! Mikey!" and two girls ran into the room._

"_Dad, have you seen Mikey? We can't find him. We found some new outfits for him!" the older girl declared. Hermione thought she must be Michelle, meaning the younger one was Bridget. He was right, the girls looked almost exactly like his wife. They ran to him and he hugged them, tightly. "Girls, you do remember he's a little boy, right? I don't think he likes wearing dresses."_

"_Oh, dad, they're not dresses, they're dress robes. We're getting him ready for Hogwarts and the dances." The girls giggled. He threw back his head and laughed. "Hogwarts, aye? I think right now, he's more concerned with flying than dancing. I also think he might have gone, that way." Pointing in a completely opposite direction from where Mikey actually was. The girls kissed his cheeks and ran out, still calling for their errant little brother. He watched as Mikey clambered out from under the table and ran to him, holding his arms up. He picked him up, chucking him under the chin, and walked out the door the girls had just come through._

Hermione came up out of the memory, smiling. 'He'd been such an adorable little boy!' Now, she had a very good idea of what their baby was going to look like. She looked across the table at Mikey. He was watching her.

"Your father told me about that memory, how your sisters used to dress you up." She smiled. He shrugged, "Yeah, they tried to tell him they weren't dressing me like a little girl. He knew better. He and granddad would help me hide from them. One time, Greyback was there, with granddad, getting a stab wound treated. He actually put me up on his shoulders and spread his hair out so they wouldn't see me. That's the only time I remember him not growling at me while he was there, every other time he'd growl at me." He took the memory back and prepared to pull another. Hermione stopped him. "If you really don't want to do this, we don't have to. I just thought it might help."

"I need to do this. I'm not much for just plain talking, but I think, if I let you view the memory, then I can answer your questions and it will help me ease into talking about what we've seen." Mikey honestly was trying, Hermione could see that. He didn't want to be here but, for her sake, he was willing to try. It was really all she could ask for. She reached her right hand and took his gloved left hand. She motioned for him to continue. He pulled the next memory out and they went in.

_This time they were in a large bedroom. The two girls were older. Their little brother was seated on the bed behind them. They were talking, through the floo, to their older cousin. She was giggling, telling them about the older boy who had suddenly begun paying attention to her. He had already graduated a couple years ago. They were questioning her about who he was, where he was from and basically everything her parents would have asked her. _

"_His name is Antonin, Antonin Dolohov. He was a Russian student. He came here after school, he went to Drumstrang. He's friends with Uncle Lucius and Aunt Bella." The younger girls shuddered at the mention of Bella. _

"_Are you sure you should be going around with someone who goes around with her? She's crazy, everyone knows that, Alicia." Michelle said quietly. Mikey, playing with a toy horse, looked up and listened, then went back to pushing his horse around. _

"_He wants to meet me, today. I have to figure out where we can meet. I can't introduce him to mum and dad yet. You can't tell Uncle Mike or Aunt Dora about him, either. Now, where can I meet him, and how, without mum and dad knowing?" Alicia said excitedly. Michelle and Bridget shook their heads. They weren't into boys yet, so they didn't understand why she was so excited over him. _

"_I know, you can tell Uncle Mike and Aunt Dora that Mikey wants to go to the park! I'll tell mum and dad that Ally wants to go, too! They'll bring me and Ally over and we can take them to the park with us. They'll love it!" Alicia was determined to meet him today._

_Michelle and Bridget looked at Mikey. He didn't seem to be listening, but they never could tell with their little brother. "Mikey, let's go downstairs and dad might let you fly your broomstick around in the backyard, alright?" he looked up with a big smile. "Fly, fly broomstick! I wanna fly my broomstick!" _

_The girls laughed and swooped him up. It was only in the last month or so, since they had stopped putting dresses and makeup on him, that their little brother had actually started letting them pick him up and carry him around. He still ran from them if he saw them holding a cloak or robe, but they understood now, that he really didn't like playing dress up. _

_They went down to find their father. Bridget entered the room and asked about Mikey's broomstick as Michelle held him outside. They couldn't let him into the room as their parents were decorating it for the party they were having, to celebrate their brother's fourth birthday. Hermione gasped as she realized what memory Mikey had chosen to start with. _

"_Dad, can we let Mikey fly his broomstick around the backyard?" Bridget asked. Her dad, holding a ribbon for her mum, pointed at the closet. "Don't leave the back yard. Stay right beside him. Alright?" Bridget nodded and retrieved the broom. She walked out the door and Mikey bounced and giggled at the sight of his little toy broom. In the room Bridget had just left, the floo turned green as Alexander, Renée, Alicia and Alex McKeon came through. Alicia immediately grabbed her little brother and his broomstick from their dad and went out the door, barely greeting her aunt and uncle on the way._

_Once outside, she asked the other girls if they were coming. "Coming where, Alicia, we're supposed to stay right here. Dad says it's getting dangerous out there." Michelle looked at their baby brothers, flying unsteadily on their broomsticks. Mikey had been pleased when he saw Ally. They were having a little broomstick race around the yard. _

"_Michelle, please, I don't ask for much, do I? Just ask your mum and dad if we can go to the little park down the road, it's not that far away. You know how much Mikey and Ally love playing on the Muggle playground. Please, just ask." Alicia begged. _

_Michelle considered it. "Dad says there are Death Eaters around and we don't need to roam around the block. If he lets us go, he'll expect us back fairly fast. He's not going to want us out long." _

_Alicia squealed. "A few minutes is all I need. That's all he wants is just a few minutes to see me, that's all!" _

_Michelle reluctantly went to ask their dad. Hermione, curious about it, followed her. Mikey stayed outside and watched his younger self fly. "Dad, can we take Mikey and Ally to the park, they're getting bored, just flying." Hermione gasped as she listened. The girl was making it sound like the little boys were the ones wanting to leave the yard. She wondered if Mikey had ever watched this part of the memory. _

"_Michelle, sweetie, no. I've told you, things are getting dangerous out there. If Mikey is getting bored, then bring him and Ally in. We ought to be done in just a few minutes." Mike told her sternly._

"_Please, dad, just to the park and back. By then, they'll be ready to eat, then go down for a nap." Michelle tried persuasion._

_Mike sighed and looked at Dora. She frowned but nodded. "Alright, the park is a five minute walk from here. You have fifteen minutes. Don't make us come looking for you, little miss." He threatened. She ran out of the room._

"_Alright, against my dad's better judgment and mine as well, you have fifteen minutes, Alicia. Make the most of them." Michelle said, pulling her scowling little brother off his broomstick. Alicia pulled the equally unhappy Alex off his broomstick and set out rapidly for the park. _

_Once there, the boys were put on the seesaw and stopped whimpering about the broomsticks. Alicia was pacing back and forth at the edge of the park. Michelle, beside Mikey, and Bridget, beside, Alex, both rolled their eyes. They were keeping track of the time and, whether or not the 'boyfriend' showed up, as soon as the fifteen minutes were up, they were going back!_

_Suddenly, a man and woman did approach the park. "Antonin, Bella, over here!" Alicia waved them over. They came, looking around warily. They both saw the little boys at the same time. They looked at each other and nodded. Alicia was puzzled as he walked right by her without a greeting. They were headed for her little brother and cousin._

"_Antonin, what are you doing? Why is Bella here? I thought you wanted me to meet you." Dolohov seemed to remember her then. "Sweetie, of course, I'm here to see you. Is this your little brother? Who is the other little boy?" _

_Alicia smiled. "That's Mikey, my cousin." She watched as Bella tried to talk to Mikey. The little boy just turned away without a word. Next Antonin tried. "Mikey, there's an ice cream shop down the street. Would you and Ally care for some ice cream?"_

_Young as he was, Mikey already knew which rules he could get away with breaking and which ones he'd better obey. This was definitely a time to obey one. "No! Go away! Don't want Ice cream! Ally don't want Ice cream, go away!" he yelled. _

_Alicia screamed as he suddenly grabbed Mikey and Bella grabbed Alex. "No, let them go! They don't want to go with you, what are you DOING, Antonin! I thought you were here to see ME!"_

_With a snarl, Dolohov grabbed his wand and pointed it at the whiny little bint. "Avada Kedavra!" Michelle and Bridget screamed and tugged at the boys Bella and Dolohov were trying to flee with. Bella slung her wand and hit Bridget with a killing curse as Dolohov killed Michelle. Mikey was kicking and squirming around so much, it was all Dolohov could do to hang onto the boy. Suddenly he felt sharp little teeth sinking into his hand. 'The little bastard BIT me.' He thought angrily. He dropped the brat and put him under the pain spell. "Crucio!" Bella laughed crazily and joined in, dropping little Alex. "Crucio!" Mikey screamed and cried as his little body twisted around in pain. Alex scrambled around until he found a good sized rock. His dad told him it was wrong to throw rocks, but it seemed like a good time to prove his dad wrong. He slung the rock with all the strength in his little four year old body. _

_Dolohov cursed as the rock hit him. It wasn't a hard hit but it was enough to distract him. He backhanded the little boy and Alex landed a foot or so away. Mikey crawled towards him as Bella and Dolohov were both distracted. Just before he reached Alex, they again shot the pain curse at him. "Crucio!" he started wailing in agony as it felt like he was being torn up from the inside out. Just as the little boy passed out, he heard shouts further away. It sounded like his dad and granddad. He smiled as blackness took over._

With a gasp, Hermione came up out of the memory, screaming. "No, leave him alone!" she jumped up and was in Mikey's lap in less than a minute. "Oh gods, oh my gods! No wonder you hated them so bad! I'm sorry! I didn't understand before! I'm sorry!" she held his face tightly against her and anchored it with a hand, clenched in his hair, tears of sorrow streaming down her face. Mikey just held her tightly without speaking. When she was calmed down, she'd want to ask questions. For now, she needed to hold him, reassure herself that he was there.

Sorry, this was a hard chapter to write. I wanted to make sure I got it just right. I hated having to use violence with a child but it needed to be shown so Hermione could fully understand just how long and why Mikey hates the Crucio curse. Sorry if this upsets anyone.


	23. learning to talk

Learning to talk

Hermione helps Mikey deal with talking his anger out. More memories, some good, some bad. Mikey and Hermione get reacquainted with each other. What do our Slytherins have in store for Umbridge and Filch? Stay tuned.

After calming down, Hermione pulled her seat closer to Mikey. He knew what came next. His family had tried this, also. Now she wanted him to talk about how he 'felt.' 'How the hell did she think he would feel?!'

To his surprise, she did something different. "Your dad says that you couldn't say your sisters' names clearly. How did you say their names?"

"My oldest sister was Michelle. I called her 'Chelle' and my other sister was Bridget. I called her Bird. I never knew them long enough to say their names right." He ducked his head as he answered.

"Did you ever watch your sister ask permission that day?" she asked. He frowned and shook his head.

"I did. She made it sound like you and Alex were the ones who wanted to go to the park that day. Did you want to? You didn't act too thrilled when she pulled you off your broom." She asked gently.

"No, I wanted to ride my broom, Ally did, too. We were having a race, I was winning." He laughed. She chuckled. "I noticed that."

"She didn't seem too thrilled herself about leaving the yard. I didn't think your dad was going to let her for a moment. He told her to bring you and Alex in, if you were getting bored with flying." She watched closely as his face clouded with confusion.

"She, she DIDN'T want to go? Why did she take us then?" his eyes widened. "It was 'Licia, wasn't it? She wanted to go see Antonin. He tricked her! He made her think he was interested in HER! He wasn't! He used her to get to me and Ally!" Mikey was breathing heavily, his beautiful blue eyes were slowly darkening in anger. Hermione leaned forward and kissed him, taking him completely off guard. They kissed until they had to come up for air. She was pleased to see that his breathing had slowed and his eyes were calm again.

"They didn't seem to think you knew about Antonin. Did you?" she asked next.

"They were always gossiping about him in their floo calls that summer. It was hard NOT to know about him. I was really good at pretending I didn't hear them talking. My sisters were who had me the most in summer. Peach had to surrender me to them because she got me while they were at Hogwarts." He smiled fondly, "Peach was never too thrilled about surrendering me." Hermione smiled, picturing the beautiful little elf.

"She loves you, like her own little baby. She's already asked if she can help us, by the way. I told her yes, of course." Hermione told him.

"Hopefully, she'll let me hold our little one earlier than six months. My dad told me about that." He sniggered.

"So, your dad sent your sisters off in a completely different direction in your other memory. Did that happen a lot?" she changed memories.

"Yeah, from the time I could walk, until they finally realized I didn't run from them, unless they were holding clothes. After that, they didn't play dress up using me as the dolly anymore." He shook his head. "Fen actually was at the house, one time. He picked me up, put me on his shoulders, he had long hair, Granger, still has it. He actually let me burrow under his hair and I heard him growl at my sisters." He cackled out loud. "It's the only time he ever growled at them and not me. Before and after that, it was always me he growled at."

"So they were getting you ready for Hogwarts and dancing?" her eyes were dancing with laughter. He ducked his head. "Yeah, my dad didn't believe that, either."

"After they stopped putting makeup on me, they would let ME put make up on them. I would brush their hair, they taught me how to braid, French braid, ponytail." He was lost in thought.

"You seemed to listen when they mentioned Antonin and Bella. Did you recognize the names at that time?" back to the bad memory.

"No, not his. I recognized hers. Because of Uncle Lu and Aunt Cissy." He was quiet, thinking. She waited, sensing he needed to say something.

"I always thought Mum and dad blamed ME. For 'Chelle and Bird dying. Because they thought I was the one who wanted to go to the park." He whispered quietly.

"They didn't blame you. Your dad sounded like he blamed himself. In the memory, he really didn't want to let them go. He looked at your mother first, then told your sister fifteen minutes was all she had." Hermione blinked back tears. 'Fifteen minutes was all it had taken to destroy the lives of two families.'

"I wanted to tell them we wanted to stay home, but by the time I woke up, we had already left Ireland and were set up in London. I missed their funerals, Granger, I didn't get to tell my sisters goodbye. That's when mum and dad started fighting like cats and dogs. Mum wanted to leave it alone. Dad wanted to hunt them down and kill them. That's also when me and Ally decided we were going to be Aurors, so we could hunt them down legally." His eyes pierced through her. They were the eyes of a trained Auror.

"So, Granger, now you know why I hate the Crucio. I hated it before I ever came to Hogwarts, long before we learned it in Defense." He stated.

He pulled another memory. _They dived in and were at Hogwarts. The brown haired boy and blonde haired boy were at the edge of the forest. They watched the skeletal horses for a while. Suddenly a huge shadow fell over them. It was Hagrid, the gamekeeper for Hogwarts. _

"_What are they, Hagrid? Nobody else sees them. They think we're crazy." The brunette told him. _

"_Those are thestrals, boys. The reason why you can see them is because you've witnessed a death. That's the only way they can be seen." Hagrid told them sadly. He laid a huge hand on each boy's back. The boys looked at their feet. _

"_Can you see them, Hagrid?" the blond asked._

"_Yeah, I see them. I was with my dad when he died. You want to talk to Professor Snape?" Hagrid asked. Both boys shook their heads. It didn't matter what anyone said, they were responsible for getting their sisters killed. Talking about it would only make everyone else feel better, it wouldn't help them feel better._

They came up out of the memory. They, he and Alex, had only been first years. They could see the animals, pulling the 'horseless carriages.' Nobody else could, so they didn't believe them.

"I couldn't see them until fifth year. That was when we fought the death eaters at the ministry. The order came to our rescue. Bella and Sirius were fighting. She shot the death curse. He dodged it but stepped through the archway, into the void." Hermione would never forget the anguished screams of Harry as he realized Sirius was gone forever. It was all Remus could do to hold onto him, keep him from dashing in after him.

She pulled that memory and they viewed it. Mikey was swearing as they came back out. "Damn, he didn't even have a body to bury!"

"No, all he has is a stone with a name on it." Hermione said sadly. "He has survivors guilt over Cedric. He swears he should have just left Diggory win. But if Cedric had touched the cup by himself, he probably would still have been dead. The cup was a portkey. It took them to a graveyard on the Riddle estate. If Cedric had been pulled there, he would have laid there forever. I seriously doubt they would have sent him back, at least not in one piece."

Mikey sighed. 'Poor Hufflepuff! He didn't deserve to go like that.'

"Is that what you think this is, survivors guilt?" he questioned her. Hermione thought about how she wanted to word this. "Yes. We all have survivors guilt. Yours and Ally's is your sisters. Harry's is Sirius, Cedric, his parents and everyone who died in the battle. Mine is everyone who died in the battle."

"I don't know. That just seems too simple." He scratched his ear.

"That's why it's so hard to understand how it works. It's so simple. You don't think something 'that simple' can have any effect. But it can and does have an effect. It starts simple, then you start doubting yourself, then you start doubting everyone around you. Before long, you don't trust anyone. Lies start to seem like the truth. And truth sounds more like lies. Then you're caught in a never ending cycle of self doubt, mistrust and paranoia. And, remember also, you've been carrying this around your whole life, Mikey." Mikey thought it over. It sounded about right. Maybe this talking thing wasn't so hard after all.

He pulled another memory. _They were at the Quidditch pitch. He's a Chaser_. _Alex is a Keeper. Its Slytherin vs Gryffindor._ _He hears screams from the Gryffindor stands. He looks up and blinks rapidly. 'What the bloody hell is Potter doing?! It looks like he's trying to be a bloody cowboy!' Then he sees the look of fear on the boy's face and realizes Potter isn't in control of his broom. _

_He looks over at Flint, who motions him closer. "Change positions with Pucey. Take the bat, give Pucey the Quaffle. You stay right below Potter, if he falls, catch him!" As he circles slowly beneath the boy, the broomstick starts bucking more and more violently. Pretty soon, Potter is literally hanging off the side. One more good buck and he'll be down. Mikey braces to catch the boy. Then suddenly, the broom stops bucking and starts flying again. He and Pucey change positions back and the game continues._

They come up out of the memory. Hermione recognized it as soon as she saw the bucking broom. First year, Quirrel was jinxing Harry's broom, though at the time, she and Ron thought it was Snape. It was strange, seeing the memory from someone who had actually been playing that day. She'd known Mikey started that game as a Chaser, she hadn't seen him and Pucey change positions, by the time she had got back to the game, he was a chaser again. It was weird to think the Slytherins had been prepared to catch Harry if Quirrel had succeeded.

"Thank you." She said. He looked at her. "For being ready to catch him, thank you."

"It wouldn't have been a game without him, it would have been a bloodbath. We were just giving Gryffindor a sporting chance." He waved off her thanks.

"A sporting chance, yeah? If I recall that game, Slytherin knocked our Keeper, a Chaser and a Beater out of contention." She giggled.

"Yeah, but we weren't trying to kill them, were we?" he countered.

"True, very true, ok, you get that point." She conceded. He smiled smugly.

He thought hard, then pulled another memory. He dropped the memory into the pensieve. Before he let her go in, though, he held her tightly and kissed her. As she dropped into the memory, she understood.

_She was standing in the aisle, at the foot of a bed in the Hogwarts infirmary. She looked beside her at the fourth year Mikey. He looked scared. She looked down at the bed. It was her, laying there, mirror still in her hand. She'd been petrified. She'd never realized he came to see her. Looking around, she saw why. It was dark. It had to be after curfew. He'd risked detention to come visit her. She watched as he moved to the side of her bed. He leaned down, stroked her hair back from her face and kissed her forehead. "I'll come back tomorrow night, sweetie, I won't leave you until they can wake you up. I promise." She looked at the window and realized the sun was coming up. 'Had he actually sat there all night with her?!' she watched as he placed a Disillusion spell on himself and waited until Madam Pomprey open the doors for visiting hours. Harry and Ron rushed in as he slid out past them._

She came up gasping. "You, you stayed all night with me? Why? We didn't even know each other that well, aside from talking on the train."

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. All I remember from then is that I knew you and I hated that you'd gotten caught up in another dangerous adventure. I remembered your first year. Those boys were constantly leading you into danger. I didn't like it!"

She had to admit, he was right. On her own, she would have stayed away from adventures, preferring reading to action. The library would have been her second house. "But if I hadn't been one of the 'Trio', we wouldn't have met again. You'd be a big time Quidditch player and I'd be working in a bookstore somewhere."

He leaned forward. "Or you might have been sorted into Ravenclaw and I would have courted you all through school. Then we'd be married. I'd buy you a huge bookstore and you'd cheer for me at every game." He pulled her onto his lap. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "You know, there's a perfectly good bed right over there. We could test it out, make sure it's sturdy." He pulled the hem of her shirt loose. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek. She ran her fingers into his hair and pulled it out of the neat ponytail he'd been keeping it in lately. He groaned as she pressed closer to him. It shocked him when she whispered in his ear, "Yes, let's go test the bed. Enough memories for now." He wasted no time. Holding her against him, he stood up and went to the bed. Laying her down, he went down with her as she had two hands full of his hair. She pushed herself to the center of the bed with her her heels. He had no clue as to when she'd managed to remove her shoes. He made quick work of removing her shirt as she began pulling his shirt loose. He sat up, pulled it off, then dived down and kissed her breathless. She was running her hands all over his chest and shoulders. He started to tug her skirt down but glanced at her first, as if asking permission. She raised her hips to help him in his quest. After tossing the skirt off into a corner, he stared down at his beautiful witch, now clad in a simple pair of white knickers and matching bra. He couldn't believe this beauty was not only his but was also carrying his child. He lowered himself down and kissed her under the ear as he laid a hand on her ribcage. Kissing down her neck led him straight to the pulse, beating wildly, at the base of her throat. He raised up and kissed her again. His hands slid under the bra and he rubbed her breasts gently. She gasped as he continued massaging them, all the while kissing her. She arched her back slightly, moaning, as he played with her breasts. Gently squeezing them and then rubbing them, he didn't bother trying to unfasten the bra, he simply pushed it up out of his way. He slid down and licked across a beaded nipple. She grabbed his hair and pulled him against her as he slowly licked one, then the other nipple. She was slowly losing her mind as he took his time, swirling his tongue around. She felt his hands down on her hips now. Again raising her hips, he was able to remove the final article of clothing in his way. Now it was her turn to be impatient. She was nearly bare but for thigh high stockings and he had yet to remove HIS pants! He laughed softly as she growled at him. He reached down, unfastened them and rolled to her side to remove them. They hit the floor as he rolled back over her and bent her knees, gently easing her legs apart. He knew, now that his memories were restored, that this particular event had been too fast, rushed and rough too many times for his liking. He'd never wanted to rush her first time, nor force his way into her body, but it seemed that was how fate had wanted things to go. No more. This time, he was determined to take his time and do it right. He started kissing her again as his hands went back to her breasts. He pushed his hips against hers and was pleased to feel her trying to push back. After he had her moaning again, he moved his hands to her hips as his mouth returned to her breasts. He slid both hands to the inside of her thighs. One hand slid over her wet folds as he pushed a finger inside. He groaned softly at how wet she already was but he didn't want to rush her anymore. It didn't matter that this was technically their third time together. He wanted to make it as special as if it was actually her first time. He owed her that much. While teasing her with a finger, he was also pumping himself and rubbing his tip against her. He tried a second finger and felt her shuddering and arching. "Now! Please, Mikey, now, please!" she whimpered with pleasure. It was time. He slid himself slowly into her. As he felt her tense, he stopped. Little by little, he pushed inside, stopping each time to give her time to adjust to his size. Finally he was fully sheathed. He looked down and saw her gazing, enraptured, at him. He smoothed her hair down and kissed her. "Ready?" she smiled and nodded. He started out slowly, with shadow strokes, giving her still more time to adjust. Finally, she was pushing back, wanting more. As she began crying out and pulling his hair, he quickened his pace and together they went over the edge. He could feel her nails scratching down his back and he was amazed to feel her bite him on the shoulder. They were both shivering as they laid there.

"That. Was. Amazing." She panted. Now, she could understand why all the girls whispered and giggled after doing this. She took a few minutes to recall that she hadn't planned to do this yet. Then she wondered why she'd ever thought of waiting. She realized her hands were tangled in his hair and giggled. He snorted out a laugh as he reached back to help her get loose. "That was much more than amazing. That was how it should have been from the start, darling. But I still owe you a weekend, maybe our honeymoon?" she stretched and realized he was still inside her and already hardening again. It didn't take much more than a few strokes before they were, once again, swept away in their emotions

Down in the library, the other Slytherins were describing detention to the assembled company of Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs gathered around their table. They were deciding on a new prank to pull on Umbridge. The other eight years couldn't wait until dinner, it would be hilarious if Umbridge came in with ink all over her face. Alex had a small box with him. It contained what looked like an ordinary puff pad. He assured them to not be fooled by appearance. They would get to see the little puff in action tomorrow.

"Oi, we need to let Mikey and Hermione know." Ron began to stand up.

Alex grabbed him. "Nope, not a good idea, Weasley. This is the first time he's been alone with her in months. He'll be wanting to get closer acquainted. Dinnertime will be more than soon enough to let them in on the plan."

Ron reluctantly nodded. Parvati noticed his reluctance and narrowed her eyes. "If the git was still hung up on Granger, he'd better learn right now Parvati Patil played second banana to nobody!'

"Ron, she was going to try and get him to talk about his memories. He doesn't need to be rushed and they do need alone time, especially if she wants to talk to him about the baby, as well." Parvati said sweetly. She clamped her hand securely onto his arm.

Neville was quietly working on an essay for Herbology. He was totally shocked when Pansy sat down next to him. "Hello. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you last night. I think I was still in shock. What did you do on your essay? I did Mandrakes."

Neville blinked at her before answering her question." Oh, uh, Venomous Tentacula. It's no problem. I was shocked as well. Um, listen, the seventh and eighth years are allowed to go to Hogsmeade anytime. We can't go right now, obviously, with the new threat out there but as soon as everything is straightened out, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me sometime?"

Pansy had a small smile on her face. "I'd love to, Neville. As soon as everything is cleared up."

At dinner time, all the eighth years except Mikey and Hermione were there. They all exchanged glances. 'Where were they, were they ok?'

'Oi, check it, she hasn't noticed!" Alex whispered excitedly. They looked at the Head table. It was all they could do to hold back their laughter. All the teachers were very carefully avoiding looking directly at Umbridge. Mike had his face buried on his wife's shoulder. Just then, the doors opened and everyone turned to watch Mikey and Hermione walk down the aisle to their spots. 'Oh hell, I forgot! Mikey has no filter! He's gonna let the cat outta the bag! Damn, why didn't I remember that?!' Alex groaned. Mikey looked up, saw Umbridge, and faltered.

He looked away from her and his gaze landed on his parents. He looked at Hermione, grinned and whispered, "Watch this."

'Oi, get a room already!" he laughed as his dad immediately tipped his mum's chair over and took her to the floor. It simultaneously worked to keep both him and his dad from spilling the beans and alerting Umbridge. He sat down and Alex showed him the puff. He burst out laughing, evidently familiar with the product. 'Poor Umbridge would regret attempting to keep him away from his girl. She would really regret pissing both him and his cousin off.'


	24. Detention, again!

DETENTION, AGAIN!

Oh, those mischievous little Slytherins! When WILL they learn? Matches are discussed, tricks are planned and the Slytherins conspire to keep Mikey out of detention. Will it work? Stay tuned. As promised quite a few chapters back, the father figure Fenrir Greyback has finally reappeared in the story. Somewhat short chapter but I'm trying to balance between pranks and Mikey showing Hermione his memories. Next chapter: more memories.

After dinner, Mikey walked Hermione to the portrait guarding the Head Girl's room. All the seventh and eighth year girls were gathering there for a slumber party. It was to allow them to get to know one another but also discuss their matches and whether or not they would succeed. The boys were all set to camp out in the Head Boy's room for the same purpose. Going unspoken was the fact that they would also be planning more tricks to play on Umbridge.

Hermione clutched him to her. Now that they had reconnected, she didn't want to let him go. He held her reassuringly. "I'll still be here in the morning, darling, I'm not disappearing anytime soon." He stroked from her forehead to her chin, then kissed her. "Do you want me to show you more memories tomorrow? I can't swear as to talking about them but I'll show them to you." He looked so vulnerable she wanted to guard him from the world. He was trying so hard. She knew it was totally going against his nature to talk about stuff but for her, he was giving it a shot. That was one reason why she loved him so much. "We can, IF you don't have detention. I KNOW you boys are planning something!"

He chuckled and tapped her on the nose. "It's called plausible deniability, sweetheart. Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies. Enjoy your sleepover, I'll see you in the morning" With one last kiss, he headed off to the Head Boy's room. She gave her password and entered her room. She began rearranging furniture so there would be room for all the girls to sleep comfortably. The first knock came a few minutes later. In about thirty minutes, all the girls were there. After everyone settled down and got comfortable, they started talking about their matches.

The Slytherins started the talk. As there were only two who had come back, they felt somewhat outnumbered. Millicent had been paired with Aidan. She was nervous as he was a couple years older and they'd never talked much in the brief span of time he'd been there. Pansy just assured her that, as long as she could get him talking about Quidditch, they'd be just fine. She, on the other hand, was paired with Neville. The Gryffindor girls told her, he was the same about Herbology as Aidan was about Quidditch. Pansy mentioned she wasn't the best student at Herbology. They told her to have Neville tutor her, that way she could pass the class but also get to know him.

Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell were on the fence about their matches. While Katie thought she had a pretty good chance with Blaise, Angelina seemed to hate her match. "We didn't get along before he left school, why would the sorting hat think we'd get along any better now?"

"Come on, Angelina! You seemed to think he was attractive, if I remember right." Katie teased her.

"When he wasn't trying to kill me on the Quidditch pitch, you mean? Yes, I admit when I first saw him, I thought he was attractive, there, are you satisfied?" Angelina said, blushing, as she smiled at Katie.

The girls laughed as they recalled the battles between Marcus and Angelina on the Quidditch pitch. Hermione smiled as she listened to them. This bonding was good. She made a note to start including Pansy and Millicent whenever they had group study sessions, she hadn't realized they felt left out.

Padma and Parvati were happy with their matches. Their only concerns were that Parvati was worried that Ron still had feelings for Hermione and Padma was afraid he and Draco would start fighting and kill each other. Hermione could understand Parvati's fear but she assured her any feelings were strictly one sided on Ron's part as she was madly in love with Mikey. They weren't sure how to keep Draco and Ron from killing one another, however, except to try and keep them separated as much as possible.

Luna wasn't concerned about her and Gregory, mostly because he was quiet and easygoing, letting her make the decisions about their household. Alicia was very vocal on how unexpectedly traditional Oliver was and how she'd had to almost fight him before he agreed to let her work, too.

Ginny was over the moon that she and Harry had been paired. When they first heard about the law and realized couples were going to be randomly picked, they had feared the hat would separate them.

Lavender had already been all but married to Seamus anyway but, like Ginny, had feared the hat would separate them. She and he were getting ready to leave for their next full moon in a couple of weeks, which reminded Hermione that she needed to talk to McGonagall about the special class she had thought of. Actually, the class had already been approved, now she and McGonagall were waiting to see if their chosen instructor was going to be able to teach the class.

Last but not least, she and Victoria were asked about being matched to the two former Snatchers. Victoria recalled, for them, meeting Alex on the train. She'd been crushed when he went into Slytherin. He'd told her about his father being Slytherin, but he's also told her about his mum being Ravenclaw and that was the house she'd hoped he would end up in. She'd known going into the relationship that, with their house rivalry, she wouldn't be able to talk to anyone about him and she was right. She'd gone through school without anyone being the wiser that she was dating a member from the House of their worst rivals. Hermione simply pointed out that, while she and Mikey had been friendly throughout school, she'd always been too caught up in the latest threat to Harry to even think about dating.

When asked about being captured, she smiled and agreed that it had been scary, but once she'd realized she knew the leader, she hadn't been as scared as she should have been. She revealed her ring that Mikey had given her, then unbuttoned her shirt enough to show the top of her tattoo. The other girls oohhed and aahhed over the tattoo. That's when Victoria showed her own tattoo and ring as well. Hermione hadn't known that Mikey and Alex both had used the spell and tattoo.

Meanwhile in the Head Boy's room, the boys were being typical boys. They were drinking, playing Exploding Snap, Gobstones and chess. Ron and Draco were, surprisingly, playing each other. Harry and Seamus were playing Exploding Snap with Neville and Oliver. Marcus, Aidan, Mikey, Alex, Gregory and Blaise were planning their next attack on Umbridge. Alex had the puff, but he would need them to keep Umbridge out of the classroom long enough for him to use it, and still be seated by the time she got into the room. Since everyone knew how much Mikey hated her and she disliked him, it was arranged that he would be with Hermione, just coming to class so she would have no reason to suspect him. Marcus and Aidan would get into a fight over Quidditch. Blaise and Gregory would be trying to break up the fight and hopefully, she would have to come out and break up the fight herself.

Once that was settled, they all took sides in cheering either Ron or Draco on. They had all heard Padma and Parvati begging the two to please try and get along, hence the game of chess. Knowing they were supposed to be 'talking about their matches,' the boys rolled their eyes and all decided unanimously that they were happy with their matches. There was one moment when Mikey was asked about a certain rumor going around. He was pleased to announce that "yes, he had captured Granger during the war, yes, he had slept with her and yes, he was, in fact, going to be a father." He didn't let on that they had slept together just a few short hours earlier. That was none of their business. He didn't mind sharing the rest of that information because they were, after all, going to be married now and pretty soon she would be showing definite signs of their former involvement. He was congratulated on his impending fatherhood.

Both groups of students soon retired for the night. They had a busy and, hopefully, detention free day ahead of them.

The next morning, they met in the hallway outside the Head Girl's room and paired off, one by one, as they went down to breakfast. They were happy to see Umbridge still seemed oblivious to the ink on her face. The lower classes were getting huge laughs out of it. They were waiting for exactly the right time to head down to class. They couldn't get there too late or Alex wouldn't have time to use the puff but at the same time they had to get her out of the classroom in the first place.

Alex stood and nodded to Marcus. They gave him five minutes. then he and Aidan exited the Hall. Blaise and Gregory left about five minutes after them, right after they saw Umbridge get up to leave. The rest of the boys made sure to keep talking to Mikey so he couldn't follow the other Slytherins out. Hermione watched the activity curiously but, remembering Mikey's words last night, didn't ask any questions.

A few minutes later, she, Mikey and the rest of the group stood up to head downstairs. As they neared Umbridges classroom, they could hear Pucey and Flint screaming at each other. Thuds and clatter indicated they were actually fighting and they could hear Zabini, Goyle and Umbridge trying to break it up. They stood, open mouthed, as Flint flung Pucey at Umbridge, barely missing her. Pucey, shaking his head, jumped back to him and slung him toward her, this time Umbridge herself, jumping out of the way. Gregory, who had been keeping watch just inside the door, signaled Blaise who turned and winked at the two fighters. The two older students suddenly seemed to forget why they were so mad at each other and walked into the class, side by side laughing.

Umbridge was bewildered but pleased that she, herself had escaped unscathed. She did tell the boys they had their choice of writing lines or detention. Knowing what was about to happen, they chose lines. Umbridge watched the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryfindor portion of her class arrive with one Slytherin at the center of the group. As planned, Mikey was walking down with Hermione. They were arm in arm and he had a hand laid on her lower belly, right over where his child was resting. "Well," she proclaimed. "I'm glad at least ONE of my Slytherins is finally being well behaved." She turned and entered the classroom, missing Mikey raise his head, grin a truly evil grin and mutter, "You wish, you old toad!" Hermione snorted out a quick laugh and was straight faced again by the time they went into the class.

They all noticed the cupcake and note at the same time. Alex was sitting, innocently whistling, playing with Vicky's hair as soon as she sat down with him. Umbridge began her days lecture on the household budget and why it was important to plan ahead for future purchase, instead of impulse buying on the spot. She set them to writing a two foot essay on making their on budget and how they planned to stick to it. As they began their essays, she sat down at her desk.

She eyed the cupcake suspiciously, then read the note. Whatever the note said made her look up and smile almost fondly at her students. She then picked up the cupcake and bit into it. Just a moment later, there was a huge puff of green smoke surrounding her desk. They could hear her fussing, "OOOHH, OOHH, THOSE BEASTS! THOSE HORRID LITTLE BEASTS!" When the smoke cleared, the whole class burst into laughter. Her face and shoulders were covered in green dye and her hair was standing on end, also green. She stood up to go into her quarters and opened the door to an uproar of caterwauling kittens. Not only had Alex used the puff on her, he had exploded a puff in her private quarters as well. From what the closest students could see, every last kitten plate on her wall was also covered in green dye and the cats were very loudly vocalizing their displeasure with their new look. "OOOOOHHH, MY BABIES. MY BABIES, HOW DARE YOU, YOU HORRID LITTLE BEASTS! DETENTION, DETENTION, ALL OF YOU, THE WHOLE CLASS, DETENTION!" she screamed angrily.

Class was summarily dismissed as she angrily screamed them out of the room. They all trooped up to crowd into the hallway of their next class, still dying with laughter over her new look. When asked about the kitten plates, Mikey proudly raised his hand. The cupcake had been all Alex, Mikey had planned the attack on her personal quarters. He hated those blasted kitten plates! When asked what the note had said, Alex replied, "Sorry for being such pains, your sweet, sorry, little Slytherins." At the protests, he laughed. "I wasn't about to go down by myself or I'd be taking up Mikey's vow to kill the old huzzy!"

As they were still laughing, the door opened and Professor Snape came out, looking at them quizzically. He immediately figured out what happened. "Dear Merlin! What have you lot done this time?" he inquired, already fighting back his laughter, attempting to be the stern instructor they were used to. Hey filled him in on Umbridge's new look. It would be a while before she was pink again. He shook his head. 'Merlin, these boys were determined to get themselves expelled, one way or another!'

After they had conquered their boggarts, they had moved on to trolls. Harry, Ron and Hermione were pleased to finally learn the proper way to dispose of them, although they quite preferred how they had gotten rid of their troll.

In Transfiguration, the instructor was Mikey's mum, Professor Pandora Scabior. She taught them how to not only change napkins into gloves, a trick Hermione already knew, but also how to change the color of them to match skin tone. Hermione was immensely interested in learning that as she had only managed to make the glove basic black. Since he was right there with her, she simply experimented on the glove she had already transfigured for Mikey. She was able to get it on the first try, and watched as he admired his glove, which now matched his tanned skin. She then proceeded to make several more. She ended up with four black gloves, since he confessed to liking the color, and four more flesh colored gloves for him to wear.

After Transfiguration was lunch, then their afternoon classes. At lunchtime, they were surprised by a new face at the Head table. Hermione squealed in joy. 'Finally!' She and McGonagall exchanged proud glances as McGonagall stood to announce the new class. "Attention, students, you may have noticed we have a new face at the Head table today. I'm pleased to announce a new class but it is only for a select few students. As you all may know, we have two Aurora trained wolves in our student body, we also have several students who were bitten by wolves in the battle a few months ago. They are not yet used to their transformations, therefore I was asked to create a class where this could be corrected. We have a number of students as year round residents as a result of being thrown out of their homes. This instructor not only is experienced with transformations but also has a pack willing and eager to accept new 'pups' who have been rejected by their families. Allow me to introduce you to our newest instructor, Fenrir Greyback."

Fenrir stood up and addressed McGonagall. "First, I would like to thank you, Headmistress McGonagall, for allowing me this opportunity. Second, I would like to say, to all the young pups, please don't be afraid to show yourselves. That's why I'm here, for you. To help you adjust, adapt and survive. My pack will gladly, as announced, accept any pup who has been rejected. You Do have a home. With US. Thank you."

As lunch ended, she saw Lavender gazing yearningly at Fenrir. Knowing Lavender had been one of the bitten who w's rejected, Hermione asked her if she could introduce her to Fen. Lavender eagerly nodded and grabbed Seamus. They followed Hermione over to where Fen was being enthusiastically greeted by Mikey and Alex. They had raced over as soon as the lunch announcements were over. Fen was laughing and play wrestling with his boys. As Hermione approached, he became aware of them. He stared alertly at Lavender and Seamus. "Hello, Fen, I'd like to introduce you to Lavender Brown and Seamus Finnegan. They will be taking your class." Lavender stepped forward. "You, you are willing to accept new pups? I, uh, I was r-rejected, I, they called me a monster, they didn't want me anywhere near them." Lavender's eyes filled with tears. As they watched, Fen simply opened his arms, the girl dived into them and he held her tightly. "My mate's name is Mary but you can call her Mum. You'll meet her soon, this coming moon. I'll be gathering all the new pups and transporting them, along with Alex and Mikey, to our den. We'll be at our hunting grounds the week of the full moon. Welcome to my pack, baby girl."

They were still talking as Umbridge stormed into the Great Hall. Fen's back was to her, but he glimpsed her from the corner of his eye.

"Merlin, was that,,,Umbridge? The devil is SHE doing here?" was his shocked reaction.

Hearing his voice, Umbridge turned around. "Greyback, Fenrir Greyback, is that you? What are you doing out of Azkaban?!"

"Apparently, they can't hold you for murdering two little rich boys when said rich boys come back from a family vacation." He smirked. "What the devil are YOU doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at the Ministry, making people's lives a living hell?"

Umbridge's eyes narrowed. Now that she thought about it, she was almost sure Greyback had gone to Hogwarts and also had been sorted into Slytherin. She huffed, turned and walked away.

"Nice color, by the way." Yelled Fen, laughing uproariously.

Thank you to the new follows/favorites: Lyndsey88, decandenceofmysoul, CJRed, Khyharah, extra3x3. Thank you all! Love you all!


	25. Memories, good and bad

Memories, good and bad.

Mikey actually behaves, for once, more memories are viewed, Greybacks motivation is revealed.

Quite a long chapter. I think his memory took most of it. I wasn't planning on that big of a memory but it just happened that way.

After classes were over, the eighth years went back to detention. It was becoming a regular sight for the younger students, watching their prefects and Head Boy going to detention. The professors Scabior and McKeon just shook their heads and kept their fingers crossed that their boys didn't get in enough trouble to actually be expelled. They all seriously wanted to see their boys graduate.

Umbridge, still furiously angry, over her kitten plates, announced their detention. Since it was the whole class, she divided them by house. The Hufflepuffs were sent with Filch to polish all the trophies in the trophy room, by hand, no magic allowed. The Gryffindor group, minus Hermione, was sent to Hagrid to help him round up his blast ended skrewts who had escaped into the Forbidden Forest. The Ravenclaws were set to washing every one of the plates in an attempt to wash off the green dye. The Slytherins were led to the Great Hall and told to scrub all the tables clean of stains, again by hand, no magic allowed. Mikey and Alex were held in the hallway. They were directed to polish each and every one of the rules framed on the wall. Hermione was directed to sit down and do nothing. Unknown to Umbridge, this was the worst punishment for Hermione. It was how her parents used to punish her. They knew there was nothing she hated more than to sit still without a book in her hand.

Pretty soon, though, she found she didn't mind doing nothing. From where Umbridge had seated her, she had a perfect view of Mikey up on the ladder. Marcus, Draco, Aidan, Gregory and Blaise sniggered as they watched her lean back against the table and stare dreamily at Mikey. The boy, himself, was so busy washing portraits that he didn't notice being watched until he was halfway down the ladder. Then he smirked at her as he contemplated the temptation of 'accidentally' dropping some of the stupid rules he was having to wash. Her eyes widened and she shook her head no, even as she was giggling. She pointed up and then to her temple and blew him a kiss. With that silent promise, he promptly decided to behave himself the rest of this detention.

The sooner he finished here, the sooner they could slip off to the Room of Requirement for some more alone time. He still had several more upsetting memories he needed her to ask him about. He'd discovered, the first time, that it was easier for him to talk about his memories if he allowed her to view them first, then ask him about them. She had never asked 'how he felt' because she already knew. He loved how she would ask him about some random little thing, then draw him into talking about the actual upset shown in the memory. He wasn't ready yet to show her any of his Voldemort memories so he was instead going to show her his memory of the attack that gave him and Alex lycanthropy.

Pretty soon, he and Alex finished with the rules. Alex volunteered to help the rest of their house with the tables, effectively freeing Mikey from detention. Hermione waited to see if she had SAT long enough to satisfy the old hag. Reluctantly deciding that both Hermione and Mikey had behaved well enough, she allowed them to leave.

They went to the Room of Requirement and he went right to the pensieve. Before he could draw out a memory, she hugged him tightly. Watching the memory drop into the bowl, she prepared to enter the memory.

_Once she dropped inside, she found herself inside a huge ballroom. It looked like a birthday party. To her surprise, Dumbledore was there, talking to the parents of several students. She heard a familiar laugh and looked to her left. Mikey and Alex were standing there, with Marcus, Aidan, Draco, Vincent, Gregory and Blaise. They were showing newly earned Aurors badges to the boys and talking about their training. They imitated Alastair Moody 'Constant Vigilance!' Alex told them they'd heard it so often, Mikey actually woke him up from a dead sleep once yelling "Constant Vigilance, Scabior!" in HIS sleep! They were laughing at him as he laughingly covered his face for that. Hermione laughed softly. _

_Soon, Alex and Mikey decided that they needed something stronger than butterbeer and wine to celebrate their birthdays. They slipped into the garden and Disapparated. The memory briefly twisted around her. When they reappeared, they were at a tavern. She knew immediately this was when they were attacked. They walked in and greeted some of the older, more experienced coworkers. The older wizard discovered it was Mikey's eighteenth birthday and the previous weekend had been a celebration for Alex. They immediately called for a birthday celebration and insisted that the young wizards were not allowed to pay for any drinks the rest of the evening. Everyone sang happy birthday to them and they were praised the rest of the evening. As it wound down to closing time, everyone was a little unsteady on their feet. The two boys were absolutely smashed. They were propping each other up, laughing at a coworker's joke when suddenly the doors and windows burst open. _

_Death Eaters came streaming in, blocking the door. Werewolves leaped through the windows and began transforming. The patrons screamed as the Aurors, jumping in front, ordered everyone to the back of the tavern. Though they could barely stand up, Alex and Mikey were prepared for a fight. They whipped their wands out and stood back to back. Surprisingly, their drunken state didn't hinder them, in fact several times a well-timed stagger actually helped them dodge a portion of the curses fired at them. A short break in the fight resulted in a male patron, thinking the fight was over, promptly dying as he unexpectedly stood up and tried to make a break for the door. After that, the other patrons panicked and all hell quite literally broke loose. _

_The werewolves were attacking anyone who moved, be it patron, Auror, or death eater. Alex fell away from Mikey. He turned to check on him, discovering him in a desperate battle with a werewolf but he was managing to hold his own. Mikey turned back to his own opponents, two Death Eaters firing curses at him rapidly, attempting to catch him off guard. He dispatched them in time to turn back to Alex. He darted over, just as Alex cried out. _

_There were two wolves there with him. One which he had obviously managed to subdue but the other rose with blood smeared on his face. "No!" Mikey cried as he saw the blood spreading from his cousins side. Then he realized who he was looking at: Fenrir Greyback. He gulped but bravely raised his wand. Greyback almost casually walked after him as he fired curse after curse at him, seemingly unaffected by any of them. Suddenly he felt the sting of a curse hit him in the back, immediately setting up a burning sensation in his veins. He screamed and almost dropped. But he was still desperately shooting curses at Greyback, who had frozen. He suddenly jumped at Mikey. Flinging up his already injured left hand, he felt Greyback grab it and latch on, biting deeply. He went down, screaming as it felt like his body was burning from the inside out. He vaguely heard Alex yelling his name. Glad his cousin was still alive, he tried to let him know HE was ok, too. Blackness swam around in his vision as he saw Alex crawling toward him. He looked up, puzzled at seeing the huge Greyback crouching over him and, apparently, waiting for Alex. _

_The fight was over for them. Greyback disapparated and their coworkers came running to check on them. Upon realizing that they had been bitten, the others backed away from them. Suddenly Greyback was back, snarling at the older wizards, he knelt, clapped a hand on each boy and disapparated once more. The memory twisted around Hermione again. This time, they were in the lobby of St Mungo's. "Medic, now, you bunch of pansies!" Greyback roared. He waited until the two boys were surrounded by medical personnel, then walked away. He ran lightly up the steps and burst onto the third floor. _

_Grabbing a dark haired doctor, he whispered in his ear. The doctor jerked away, almost pulling his wand on him, anger on his face but Greyback spoke again, quietly but urgently. The man suddenly had a look of fear on his face. He yelled a woman's name and ran after Greyback. She dropped her cup and ran after them. They reached the floor in time to see the boys loaded onto two stretchers and wheeled to the back. Greyback vanished in the confusion but the male and female doctor both pushed forward until they were beside the boys. "Mikey, my baby! Alex! What happened?!" she screamed. The man grabbed her as she tried to jump forward, keeping her back as the other doctors attempted to keep the boys from bleeding to death. His teeth were gritted as he whispered in her ear. She jerked and looked at him. She looked behind them, obviously for Greyback. "Why? Why would he DO that? He knows what they'll face from now on! Why would he DO that to them?!" he shook his head. They were obviously trying to figure out the motives of why Greyback had either bitten the boys or saved the boys. _

_The memory twisted again. This time, the boys were in a private room, from the looks of it. There was a window looking in at them. They were either asleep or faking it. The two doctors, who Hermione finally recognized as Mr. and Mrs. Scabior, were outside the room, along with another couple, the McKeons. _

"_What have you found out, has Greyback shown himself? I fucking want to know why the fuck he bit my son! Dad is furious at him, as well!" Mike snarled angrily._

"_There's been neither hide nor hair of him spotted, he's known to hang around the death eaters but all of them seems to have gone into hiding as well." Alexander said. "Don't worry, we'll find him. We'll get some answers from him. They better be damn good or we'll also beat the living fuck out of him!" _

_Inside the room, the boys were indeed faking, they laid quietly listening to their parents, actually their fathers, plotting to hunt down, question and beat the holy fuck out of Fenrir Greyback for biting them. Hermione smiled. It was clear to see where the boys got their vengeful natures from. The women were worried about their sons, the men were plotting revenge. As the men walked off, still plotting, the ladies decided to go grab a cup of tea, then visit their boys._

"_We can't let them do it, Mikey. We got to get outta here. They go hunting down Greyback, they'll lose their jobs AND he'll probably shred them for daring to come after him. We need to just disappear for a while." Alex said unhappily._

"_We'll not be accepted back into society, Ally, you know that as well as I do. We might as well just drop of the public eye, for good." Mike sighed. They sat up, both still wincing in obvious pain and pulled their clothes on as quickly as they could. They slipped into the hall and snuck into the stairwell. As they slowly climbed down, they discussed their options. Finally, they decided to contact their uncle, Severus Snape. He had a well-known hatred of werewolves but he was the only one they could think of who might be willing to hide them. _

_The memory swirled again. This time, she recognized the dusty, roughhewn interior of the Hogs Head bar, owned by Aberforth Dumbledore. The two boys were sitting in the darkest corner, away from the door and the crowds. They were attempting to keep anyone from realizing they were werewolves. The door opened and a gust of wind blew through the room. Severus Snape entered and looked around. Upon spying them in the corner, he stormed over. _

"_What in the name of Salazar Slytherin are the two of you doing out of the hospital?! Are you TRYING to finish what that attack started! Gods, we've been so worried! Where the hell have you two been holed up at?!" he finally finished his little rant and allowed the boys to answer. _

'_We went to Spinner's End. You gave us permission, remember? We know what it's going to be like now, Uncle Sev. We were just keeping our heads down so nobody had to worry about claiming us." Mikey muttered softly._

_Snape shook his head. "Boys, boys, why would you think that? Your parents have worried themselves sick! Your mothers desperately want you home! They are not about to throw you away! Your fathers were, I admit, planning on going after Greyback, but after the two of you disappeared, all they've thought about is finding you."_

_The boys looked wistful at the thought of going home. They missed their parents badly. _

"_They're not ashamed of us for letting our guard down and being bitten?" Alex asked hopefully._

"_No, they aren't. They're quite pleased that you survived the attack, actually, not many survive a werewolf attack in the full heat of battle like that. Besides, they didn't have to hunt Greyback down. He sought them out and explained, to them, exactly why he bit you. He also wants to explain himself to the two of you." He didn't think the boys would very agreeable to the idea and he'd told Greyback the same thing. But Greyback had insisted that he meet the boys himself. Sure enough, both boys were shaking their heads, they wanted nothing to do with the werewolf. _

"_The new school year is about to start. I won't home much but you can stay there as long as you want to. On the other hand, if you wished to, you could stay at the school with me, Dumbledore would move a couple of rooms around to attach to my quarters. Also for your transformations, there's the shrieking shack. Only one way in or out and that's going under the Whopping Willow." He tempted them. _

_Mikey remembered an angry little spitfire on the train back to London. She would be a sixth year. His eyes widened. 'seventeen years old! It would be a treat to see her again. He nodded. Having no clue what had actually persuaded Mikey to accept, Snape took that to mean Mikey, at least, would take him up on his offer. Now he just had to persuade Alex. He needn't have worried. He should have remembered, anywhere Mikey strayed, Alex followed right behind him. It was actually pretty surprising that Alex, being older, was content to let his younger cousin lead the way. _

_The memory twisted again. Hermione's eyes widened. She'd known there was something strange about the Shrieking shack that year! Every time she was in sight of it, she'd felt watched. She also saw how he polyjuiced them to look different. Those two students had sat with her and Vicky every day that whole year in Ancient Runes! How had they kept her and Vicky in the dark? The memory twisted again. She and Vicky were in Hogsmeade in Honeydukes. The two polyjuiced boys offered to 'take care of Weasley' for her. Even watching him and Alex buy the same sweets they had bought every year hadn't given them away! She watched as they, all four, walked out and froze at the sight of Fenrir Greyback. They had evidently caught him off guard as well. The two boys sent her and Vicky on ahead to snag a table at the Three Broomsticks. They followed Greyback and when he went to turn around, they both drew their wands, holding them steady. He held his hands up to show there would no problems with him, at the moment. _

"_Hello, boys, it's good to see you. How are you handling your transformations? Still fighting it?" Greyback asked. The boys remained silent. Greyback sighed. He'd known, going into this, there was the likelihood of not being able to get the boys into his pack. _

"_Listen to me, I'll only say this once. Had I not bitten you, there were only two ways you had of getting out of that bar. Alive as captives, going straight to the clutches of the Dark Lord or dead under the orders of Bellatrix LeStrange. When we were sent to that fight, I was Imperio'd by him, under VERY CAREFUL orders to only catch the two of you. Bella caught me on the way out the door. She added her own Imperio: kill you and Alex. We got there and the fight was going perfectly."_

"_Then,,,, then I saw my boys. I had two sons. They died many years ago, back when I myself was a wizard. I was walking with my family, we'd been to watch a movie. We were also attacked, same way, combined Death Eaters and werewolves. I sent my family on home ahead me. I was clawed by the wolves and that's how I became a wolf. I had sent a distress call for protection for my family. When I got home, they were dead and Aurors didn't show up for another two hours. I resigned the office and joined the Dark Lord that same day. But it had been years since I remembered my family."_

"_But I walked into that bar, fought like hell and got blindsided. There were only two newbies that day. They were drunk off their arse, should have been an easy kill. Instead we were having problems getting close enough to even grab you two. But I worked my way over to you, got past you and took Alex down first. He had just won a duel with one of my others. I knocked him down and froze! Could not move! I looked down and my Ian looked up at me. I hadn't any sons and so I bit him. Then I turned around and there was my Malcolm, holding his little wand on me. I stalked but not enough to even the odds. Then he took a blood boiler curse to the back and I couldn't sit there and watch the boy die, I just couldn't. That's who I saw in that bar. I looked at the two of you and saw my boys."_

"_I COULDN'T kill you nor could I turn you over to HIM. So I went back, having deliberately failed him for the first time since joining him. I took my punishment and laughed while he cursed me, knowing you were still free of him. I'm tired of fighting, boys. I just want this whole mess to be over and to be able to go home to my mate, take care of my pack." He stopped talking. There it was, the reason for biting them. Now it was up to them. Either he would walk away, knowing he had two more pups in his pack or he would walk away, knowing the next time he faced them, it would be as enemies once again._

_The memory twisted again. Two boys were in a moonlit field, surrounded by ten wolves and Fenrir Greyback. "Just relax, don't fight it. Let the change happen naturally, don't fight it. That's the main thing, boys, do not fight the change. The sooner you can accept it, the easier it will be each month." Fenrir paced around the boys, lecturing them on how to handle their transformation. The boys were tense but alert. Then Greyback transformed and they followed suit._

Hermione came up out of the memory with a gasp. "You were at Hogwarts my sixth year? That was you and Alex? I can see how I was fooled but how did Alex fool Vicky?"

"Very carefully, Granger, very carefully." He murmured, watching her hands. Hermione's eyes widened. 'Why was he so fascinated with her hands?' She asked him, "Mikey?" she raised her hands quickly and he flinched back. "Ok, Mikey, what's wrong? Why are you so jumpy?"

He was breathing heavily. She sat very still. His eyes were wide and amber, she noticed with alarm. She reached out, very slowly, watching his eyes track her hand. She laid her hand on his cheek. His eyes drifted almost shut as he leaned into it. It reminded her of that day. She had reached out to him then, too. His eyes had been blue, but heavily glazed. Then he'd been Imperio'd. "Mikey, when is the full moon?"

He shrugged, "next week, sometime? Fen will know, we're transporting the pups to our hunting grounds for training." His eyes were slowly fading from amber back to blue. She relaxed. She'd never thought to keep track of when his transformations would be.

"Were you scared, just now?" she had an idea but she needed to test it.

"Yeah," he saw no reason to lie. "Why?"

"Did you know your eyes turn amber when you're scared?" she tilted her head. "Why were you scared just now?"

"Not many witches would be happy about being deceived like that, Granger, I was weighing my chances of making it out the door before you hexed me." He surprised a laugh out of her. She shook her head in amusement. 'He really was too adorable.' She thought about the memory she'd just watched. "So, Fen was Imperio'd to either bring you and Alex back to HIM or kill you per Bella."

"Yeah, but he couldn't do it. We reminded him of his boys. He actually went back and ALLOWED himself to be crucio'd for failing to bring us in." Mikey shook his head at that one.

"Your dads were going to hunt Fenrir down?" Hermione smiled. "They seemed determined to find him."

'Yeah, they were. Uncle Sev said Greyback hunted THEM down. He wanted to tell them personally why he'd bitten us. They still weren't happy but they understood once he explained about his family. They were mainly just happy he hadn't actually killed us." Mikey seemed more relaxed now that he was sure he wasn't going to be hexed for tricking her during sixth year. "Dumbledore knew who we were and what we were. We stayed in the background, a lot. We figured it would be better that way. But Alex couldn't be that close to Vicky and not talk to her so I stayed close to him and you stayed close to Vicky so,,, that's how that happened."

"Did you really wake Alex up, screaming "Constant Vigilance" in your sleep?" she giggled. He laughed and covered his face. "Yeah, I did. I'm surprised I haven't woke anyone up here, doing that."

She stood up from her chair and sat down in his lap. "I'm glad you're doing this. I know it isn't easy for you. Would you like to watch one of my memories?" he nodded, curious to know more about her. She drew out a memory, hesitated, then dropped it into the pensieve.

"You might see why I understood about your memory loss after you view this memory." She said quietly. He looked at her. She looked slightly pale. He dropped forward into the memory.

_He was standing in a bedroom. There was a girl there, looking at an article in the paper. He stood beside her and looked down. "Entire Muggle family killed!" screamed the headline. The girl was Hermione and this was evidently her childhood home. "Hermione, darling, come to eat." A voice drifted in, from downstairs from the sounds of it. He watched as she put the strap of a beaded bag around her neck. He followed her down. There were two people on the couch, her parents, presumably. He watched silently as she pointed her wand at them. The tears sprang into her eyes as she whispered "Obliviate." He saw how they poured faster as each picture on the walls around them slowly changed. Each completely empty frame was removed and put into her bag. She kept one picture of the couple. She went over to the unconscious couple on the couch and kissed their cheeks. She whispered, "I love you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me." Then she walked out the door and down the street. The memory twisted._

_She's at the Burrow. They are getting ready for the wedding of Bill and Fleur. At the end of the ceremony, a Patronus rushes in. "Minister is dead. Ministry has fallen. They are coming." Suddenly, there are Death Eaters flashing in, fighting members of the order. Guests are screaming, panicking, apparating out of the tent. She struggles to reach Harry and Ron. As they touch hands, they disparate. They flash back in on a busy street. She leads them down an alley. She pulls clothes out of the little bag. They get dressed and go to an all-night café. As they sit there, talking, Harry mentions Voldemort. A moment later, two men walk in, dressed in Muggle work overalls. He stiffens as he recognizes Dolohov and Rowle. It takes Potter less than a minute to realize the danger. "Get down," he screams, pulling his wand. Hermione and Ron duck, pulling their wands. The fight only lasts about five minutes, at the most. At the end of it, being 'the best' at memory charms, she obliviates their memories of the fight. They leave and go to Grimmauld Place. There, they set up their own little headquarters to figure out what their next move will be._

He came up out of the memory. "So you have fought Dolohov twice before Hogwarts, yeah?"

She laughs, merrily. "That's the first thing you ask me?"

He shrugged and nodded. "I already knew you lived at Grimmauld Place for a while. Yaxley took me there to get your scent after you little buggers escaped from the ministry again. Did you get their memories back?" Referring to the first part of the memory he watched.

"Yes, I was able to restore their memories. They weren't too happy with me, at first. Until Harry helped me explain how bad things really were. Then they realized it was for the best. That I was only trying to protect them. They forgave me." Tears had popped up in her eyes once more, remembering how scared she'd been of them rejecting her.

Mikey wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, enough memories, yeah? How about we give that bed over there another work out, aye?" he kissed her, trying to cheer her up. She wound her arms around his neck and returned the kiss. He stood up, carrying her and carefully made his way to the bed.


	26. Minor irritations and hiding Mr Filch

Minor irritations and Hiding Mr. Filch.

Our favorite little bad boys give Umbridge a chance to recover,,,somewhat while they set their minds to protecting Mr. Filch from her. Harry takes a turn at driving her batty. Kingsley and Amelia are on the marriage law trail. Draco and Marcus talk Quidditch.

The Slyhterins had voted and come to a decision to let Umbridge rest a bit while she struggled to remove the green dye. Of course, just because they were taking a break from the BIG pranks didn't mean they couldn't pull little pranks and cause her little, minor irritations. They were just giving her time to let her guard down before they went after her again. Harry, over the summer, had made friends with an American wizard who was also into jokes. The boy had sent him a care package of joke items once he got home. He was dying to try some of them out on Umbridge.

After the class wide detention, Umbridge was surprised and pleased when she went to class the next day and they all seemed remorseful. She began her lecture and was in the middle of an explanation when she lifted her wand and it blew bubbles. She frowned and shook the wand. Deciding it was just a fluke, she continued her lecture. Once again, she lifted her wand and it blew bubbles. Glancing back, she caught sight of Potter and Weasley, hiding their laughter. Frowning, she decided to just ignore the bubbles and keep on with her lesson. Pretty soon, it seemed as if the more she tried to ignore them, the bigger they got. Finally she snapped at the class to "LEAVE, JUST LEAVE NOW!"

They didn't waste a second, scrambling out of the room before she could change her mind. As they laughed their way to the Great Hall, they ran into Fenrir, heading up for his class of the day. He howled with laughter as they told him the bubble story.

"Serves the old biddy right! How the hell did she talk the Ministry into letting her come back here, anyway?" he asked.

"We don't know, but somehow she got Mr. Filch's name on that marriage list, even though he's a Squib. I've written to the Minister and he's promised to look into it from his end and let me know. The boys think she's up to no good and we're going to try and keep Mr. Filch away from her as much as possible." Hermione told him.

"Yeah, I wouldn't put it past that biddy to try and take the school again, not saying that's what this is, but isn't that what she tried to do the last time she was here?" Fen wondered.

Hermione started to answer, but stood as if struck. "Fen! That's it! She's trying to take the school again. She kept on till she ran Dumbledore out, now she's trying to get rid of McGonagall!"

Fen snorted. "Good luck with that! Alex and Mikey will stop her, along with their parents. None of them like her because of trying to break up his grandparent's marriage." At Hermione's look of surprise, "Oh yeah, Granger, I wasn't around much but his grandpa is and always has been my family doctor. Ever since the man got his Healers license. I was there, not for the whole thing but enough to know she was causing problems."

Hermione crinkled her brows, trying to figure out WHY Umbridge would feel the need to try and take Hogwarts again. She wished Shacklebolt would get back to her with any news. She absently followed Mikey and the others into the Great Hall for lunch.

After lunch, she had a free period. She went to the library while Mikey went to Fen's class. She was working on her Transfiguration essay when she sensed someone sitting across from her. To her surprise, it was Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris.

"How did I end up on that list, missy? We both know I don't have a lick of magic. I know you been looking into it. You found anything yet?" he seemed genuinely confused about his status and hopeful that Hermione would figure it out. Hermione smiled gently at him. Unlike other students, she'd never had any problems with Mr. Filch. She'd actually felt a bit sorry for him, living at a magical school while having no magical ability himself.

"I'm looking at the records we have here and I also have a letter into the Minister to look into the matter from his end. We'll figure it out." She smiled at the old man.

"She still talks to someone at the Ministry, missy, I heard her the other day. She wants to finish what she started and I think she wants rid of you, the Potter boy and them Snatcher boys, too. She thinks once you four are gone, she'll have free rein here." Filch told her, carefully looking over his shoulder.

"Thank you, Mr. Filch. I'll keep that in mind. You be careful and stay out of her way as much as possible, alright?" she reached over and patted his hand. Mrs. Norris sniffed her hands. She stroked a hand down the cats back. Mr. Filch nodded, stood and quickly shuffled out of the library, Mrs. Norris on his heels.

As she checked her time, she realized Fen's class should be over soon. She decided to go meet Mikey, and tell him what Mr. Filch had said. She peered through the window and counted five students beside Alex, Mikey, Lavender and Seamus. The older four looked between sixth and fourth years. The littlest one, a girl, looked to be a little first year. She was looking fearfully at the older students. Hermione watched as Fen sat down next to the little girl and put his arm around her. He hugged her close and the little girl looked up at him as adoringly as Lavender did. It was obvious to Hermione that Fen was a natural born father. All of these young weres were looking to him for guidance through the difficult journey they now found themselves on. He was obviously more than willing to both claim them and guide them on their journey.

As the bell rang and signaled the end of class, all the students crowded around Fen. They were all waiting for a hug and a word or two. One by one, Fen talked to each student. Finally, he got to the little girl again. He hugged her, called her his little princess and turned her over to Lavender as she had a class very close to her. He spoke quietly to Mikey and Alex, then the three came to the door. Miley caught sight of her and smiled. She walked over, hugged him and told them of her very brief, surprising visit from Mr. Filch.

It was like Fen had figured. She was back to attempt another takeover of the school. She'd picked the wrong set of students to challenge though. She should have waited for a school year that didn't have A) students who had already found one silent war against her and won and B) students who had just fought an actual war.

Miley and Alex were talking about their next prank on Umbridge, but they were going to let her relax first, throw her off her guard, then they were going to strike. In the meantime, Harry had a whole bag of treats he was wanting to use on the old huzzy, some of which would require the assistance of a wily pair of Snatchers. Hermione laughed softly, shaking her head at them.

They were standing in a corridor talking as Filch came around the corner. Suddenly, they heard "Argus, Argus, where are you? I need you to keep an eye on some of the students." At the look of terror on his face, they jumped into action. Alex scooped up Mrs. Norris and hid her under his robe after put a slinging spell on her. Miley put a silencing spell on Mr. Filch and spelled him into a suit of armor. Umbridge came around the corner, saw them and frowned. "Have you seen Mr. Filch?"

"Yeah, we did!" Alex and Mikey said in unison. "He went that way," pointing in two different directions. "Or maybe that way." They changed directions, still pointing in opposite directions. "No, I actually think he did go this way." They pointed back in the original two directions.

"Actually I think he might have gone to the fifth floor to check on Fluffy. He's been very lonesome lately because Hagrid hasn't been coming up as much as he used to." Hermione piped up. The boys smiled admiringly. Umbridge hurried off in that direction.

"Nice, Granger, we'll make a prankster out of you yet." Laughed Alex. Hermione smirked. She could be quite tricky when she wanted to be. She just didn't show that side of herself very often. They released Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris so they could hurry away in the opposite direction of Umbridge.

That night at dinner, Harry told Hermione to keep Mikey pulled close as he would definitely burst out laughing and get detention for something he hadn't even done. Hermione rolled her eyes, but kept Mikey right beside her.

As everyone settled down, the teachers came in and began taking their seats. As Umbridge sat down, there was a loud squishing sound from her chair. To the delight of every student there, it was Mike Scabior who provided that evenings laugh at the expense of Umbridge. As Mikey had told her before, neither he nor his dad had a filter. Turning to peer across his wife, Mike said loudly, "Great Merlin, woman! Shouldn't you be doing that in the loo, not here in the dining hall! Make us all sick, you will!" Mrs. Scabior face palmed, beet red. McGonagall had a napkin over her face, her shoulders shaking. Alexander McKeon, Snape, and Greyback were laid face down in their plates, dying laughing. Mikey's head jerked toward the teachers table. Hermione grabbed him and pulled his face into her bosom just as he burst out laughing. Harry and Ron high fived and accepted the congratulatory handshakes from the Slytherin boys. Umbridge's face turned beet red, but she was unable to give detention as she wasn't sure who was responsible for the trick.

Over the next few days, she found herself on the receiving end of enough minor pranks to drive a saint insane. Her quill sprouted wings and flew away, forcing her to chase it down the hall. The chalkboard erasers exploded every time she touched them leaving her solid white more than once. Her seat screamed, "No more, no more, please have mercy on me!" every time she sat down. She began scribbling madly in her notebook, every word of which appeared across her forehead, which she still hadn't noticed, apparently it was covered up temporarily by the green dye or she just didn't pay attention. Some brave or stupid student had left her a toy centaur on her desk. She screamed as she saw it, especially as it began crying, "Mama, Mama," and following her around the class room. Every time she tried to assign Filch to watch them, she was never able to find him. The students and Peeves formed an alliance to keep Filch busy and far away from Umbridge. To that end, Peeves began chasing first years up and down the halls with water balloons, overturning furniture, and generally being his regular old pesky self. He thought it was hilarious that the students were actually fighting to keep Filch away from Umbridge and at Hogwarts. To his way of thinking, Filch was the best opponent he'd ever encountered here at Hogwarts in all its history and his long life as a poltergeist.

At the Ministry, Shacklebolt was attempting to wrangle the government into some semblance of control. He was trying to look at every aspect of the marriage law. He honestly didn't think the situation was bad enough to enact such an archaic law. It was a last resort, not to be used lightly. Certainly at this time, it hadn't been necessary to use it. Which begged the question of why? Why had this archaic law been dragged out of storage and put into use? Who would benefit from it? There HAD to be a reason for it, there just had to be.

"Minister Shacklebolt, you have a visitor. Miss Amelia Thompson is here to see you?" he smiled and rose from his chair. Amelia walked in and they shared a small hug. The night they left Hogwarts, he had escorted her home and left. They hadn't really had any contact since then, except notes sent back and forth while he tried to figure out this marriage law problem. Evidently, Amelia had decided to remedy that.

"Good morning, Amelia. How are you today? I'm sorry I haven't been to see you. I've been trying to figure everything out." He apologized.

"Maybe I can help, I was pretty good at research while I was at Hogwarts." Amelia offered.

"I'm trying to figure out why this law came into being." Said Kingsley.

Amelia looked at him, warily. "Are you trying to get out of marrying me?"

"What? No! Amelia, darling, this isn't about you. I admit, being quite a bit older than you, I would have thought you would actually be wanting to get out of marrying me. Believe me, this is NOT about you. Please, sit down. I want to show you what I mean." Kingsley decided to show her his findings. Maybe a second pair of eyes would help show him the solution to the problem. "Look at these numbers. Now, the reason the law was enacted was supposedly because we lost too many people and too much magical blood, right? They're afraid the birth of Squibs will outweigh the birth of magical children. But according to these birth records, the number of Squibs being born is actually less than it was ten, even five years ago. Now, with that being said, what is your opinion on the matter? Do you think it was necessary for this law to be used?"

Amelia looked at his research and couldn't, for the life of her, add it up. He was absolutely right. There was no reason for this law to exist. She frowned, confused. "Kings, who was the one who first proposed this law? What were the reasons for its enactment?"

Kingsley looked at his records. "There doesn't seem to be a single person behind the law. It was a combination of people, according to this document. Let's see, Travers, Runcorn, Umbridge, and Alden." He looked up at her, puzzled. "Why would any ONE of those want this kind of law made?"

Amelia was already writing the names down. "I don't know but I can find out. I'm in the secretarial pool with the assistants of all those people and, trust me, they love to take about their employers. If anyone knows what's going on, they will. In the meantime, you look as though you haven't had a good meal or nights rest since this whole situation began. Let's go to lunch. It doesn't have to be fancy. Maybe, just a quick sandwich in the cafeteria, if nothing else?" she looked so hopeful, he couldn't tell her no.

As they exited his office, he realized he was tired and hungry. He'd been so busy with this, he'd been ignoring how tired he was and neglecting to eat any kind of regular meals. "Thank you, dear. I don't think I've slowed down in the few weeks. It's just dawned on me that I've not only neglected myself but also you. I'm sorry."

Amelia smiled at him. Ever since she had started at the ministry, she'd admired him. Knowing he was now head Auror and running the department of magical law enforcement while she was merely a secretary, she had never thought she'd have a chance with him.

Once the war started and the terror had begun, he had disappeared from the ministry. That's when she started hearing about the resistance group formerly headed by Dumbledore years ago in the first war, the Order of the Phoenix. 'He must be a member of that group!' she'd thought.

She had started feverishly listening to the wireless which featured the rogue program 'Potterwatch.' She'd prayed for the Boy Who Lived to succeed in the fight but she'd also prayed for the continued health and wellbeing of Kingsley Shacklebolt. She'd cried tears of relief every time she heard him talking on the radio.

When she'd heard the news 'Lightening has struck!' she'd known the fight was on. Without a thought, she'd apparated to Hogsmeade and joined the citizens who had rushed up to Hogwarts to fight. He'd been too busy fighting to notice, but she had maneuvered herself into a position of being protected by him from behind and protecting him at the same time. She hugged his arm. "Don't you worry about that. We'll figure this situation out, together." She faltered. "One thing, if we should happen to be able to overturn this law, will that be the end of us?"

His heart skipped a beat at the sad look on her face. He might not have been aware of her before the law but he definitely was aware of her now. He tipped up her chin. "Miss Amelia Thompson, would you do me the honor of having dinner with me tonight? I usually have a quick dinner at the Leaky Cauldron but I also have a regular standing reservation at the Silver Stallion that I rarely use. Would you care to join me there?"

Her face brightened and she smiled happily at him. "Minister Shacklebolt, I would love to join you. Thank you for inviting me."

They laughed together and went on to the cafeteria, setting the problem of the marriage law aside for a few moments.

The next day, Hermione received a letter from the Minister. He told her what he'd found out so far. He also told her that he would keep researching on his end and that Amelia was helping him with the investigation. She smiled at his mention of his fiancée. Evidently they were getting along fairly well if she was actually helping him investigate the matter.

The students were getting restless. Quidditch was starting soon and Marcus Flint was uncertain of his position. When he'd left, he'd been Quidditch captain but now that was Draco's position. Draco came to talk to him about it. "Flint, I was wondering. We won more with you as captain but I would still like some input, would you possibly consider being co-captain with me? We have Blaise as a Chaser and Gregory is a Beater. I, of course, am Seeker. What position did you and Aidan want?"

"I was a Chaser and Aidan was a Beater. What about Scabior and McKeon? We need a Keeper, that could be McKeon, that was his old position. Pretty sure Scabior was a Chaser." Flint said, thoughtfully.

"Actually, Gregory wants out of the game. He realizes he's not the fastest player and he's happier to cheer us on than play. So that would be you, Blaise and Scabior as our chasers. We need another Beater, a reserve Keeper and a reserve Chaser for if we have any games on or near the full moon." Draco mused.

"I'll move to Beater. That leaves Scabior and Zabini as our chasers and then we need the reserves. Do you have any candidates lined up? If not, we need to put in for pitch time to have tryouts." Marcus decided. He liked the position of Beater better anyway.

"Harper is a pretty good Chaser. Mackey is a pretty good Keeper. They've expressed interest in staying on the team and they don't mind being the reserves." Draco told him, having already spoken to both boys. They smiled, knowing they had a strong team, hopefully this would be the year they FINALLY beat Potter and won the Quidditch cup.


	27. Getting some answers

Getting some answers, more Quidditch talk and a healing touch.

Short chapter but I still have to figure out the rest of Umbridge's dastardly plot and figure out how little Mafalda Hopkirk is going to fit into the story.

Amelia Thompson came back from lunch with a plan. She didn't know two of the marriage law perpetrators but she DID know Umbridge and Runcorn. She wasn't sure of the name of Runcorn's assistant but she knew Mafalda Hopkirk was assistant to Umbridge. The problem with that, though was Mafalda herself. After years of being browbeaten by Umbridge, she was a nervous, jumpy witch who might or might not consent to bringing her employer down. Personally, Amelia couldn't see how Mafalda had lasted so long already, without trying to kill Umbridge herself. The woman was MEAN to her employees. She had run off about five or more before being assigned Mafalda.

Amelia was engulfed in a wave of secretaries as soon as she walked in. They all wanted to know how Kingsley Shacklebolt was. 'Was he good to her, did she think he'd be a good husband, what were their plans for the wedding?' she laughed as she said they had only had their first lunch date and hadn't really discussed any plans yet. They were shocked and immediately began giving advice and ideas about the wedding and a bridal shower for her. She noticed Mafalda sitting off to one side, watching them wistfully. 'Maybe that was the key, she seemed rather lonely.' Amelia instantly decided that she and Mafalda were going to be friends before it was all said and done. She knew, somehow, this witch was the key she and Kingsley were looking for.

It wouldn't do to jump right into asking her about anything she might have overheard Umbridge and Runcorn discussing. She would gain Mafalda's trust, then ask her how she felt about the marriage law. Once she had the woman's own feelings about it, then she could decide if it would help or hurt their cause. Speaking of which, she could see a great many rings on hands that had been bare over a week ago. She thought it was a likely possibility that Mafalda had been matched with someone, as she knew the woman was single. She could, now that she thought about it, see a ring on her left hand. She wondered who her match was.

Just then, the door to Umbridge's office flew open and none other than Albert Runcorn strode out. Amelia's eyes widened. 'Why had he been in there? He had his own office across the way.' She narrowed her eyes in thought.

"Mafalda, come!" he commanded. She watched as Mafalda quickly gathered her notebook and quill and scurried after him. Amelia closed her eyes. 'Surely not, please tell her the Fates had not been that cruel, to pair Mafalda with HIM!' Even as she thought it, though, she knew instinctively that's what had happened. She was now more determined to make friends with the witch than ever. Mafalda would need a friend before this whole mess was cleaned up.

Back at Hogwarts, Draco and Marcus had gone in search of their needed Quidditch players. They found Scabior and McKeon in the Great Hall, sitting with Victoria and Hermione. "Oi, we need to walk to you two, are you up for playing Quidditch this year?" Marcus jumped right into the heart of the matter. Alex smiled and nodded. Mikey hesitated. Hermione looked at him and he was staring at his left hand. "Mikey?" she asked, laying her hand on his shoulder. Much as he and Alex talked about Quidditch, she knew he still loved the game. When he and Alex were still in school, Slytherin had pretty much ruled the pitch.

"I'll have to sit it out. I can't play anymore." Mikey said, sadly. They were stunned. He looked up and around. Then he removed the glove and showed them why he was refusing to play. Hermione had seen his hand briefly before she transfigured him a new glove but this time she took a closer look. As before his fingers were knotted and crooked from the knuckles down. Now she realized, watching his face then his hand, that he had little to no control of it. The hand just wouldn't move. He could twitch his fingertips but that was about the extent of it. She remembered now that he only ever used it to run his fingers through her hair.

She sighed and thought. Then she sat straight up and gasped. "Where's your mum, Mikey? I need to ask her something!"

"Oi, Mikey, Hermione has her thinking cap on, you might be in trouble!" Harry said, watching from across the table. Hermione whipped around and wrinkled her nose at Harry. She'd just remembered something from years ago that might help her boyfriend play Quidditch again. Much as the game bored her, she could see how distressing it was to him, having to step down from playing.

Having heard her unofficial title called, Pandora meandered down towards her son, noting the distressed look on his face. Mike watched from the teachers' table as he was talking Quidditch with McGonagall, Snape and HIS cousin, Alexander. 'Whatever it was, she'd let him know if it was important.'

Pandora stopped next to her boy. "Son, is everything alright?"

"Professor Scabior?" she heard Hermione address her hesitantly.

"Yes, Hermione dear?" she sat down beside the girl, looking at her curiously.

"Has anything ever been done to help Mikey regain the use of his left hand?" Hermione was a little intimidated by talking to her future mother in law. Pandora glanced at her son's hand. "No, by the time we got him back, his hand was beyond repair. Believe me, Miss Granger, my husband and I have tried every way possible in the last couple of months. Nothing has worked."

"Have, um, have you ever tried, um, de-boning his arm, say from mid forearm down and giving him Skele-Grow to regrow the bone?" Hermione asked.

Pandora's eyes flared open in surprise. "No, I must say we never thought of trying that. Why would you ask?"

"In our second year of school, Harry broke his arm, catching the Snitch during a match." Turning to Mikey, she told him. "You might remember that?" Mikey nodded, hiding a grin. "That total nincompoop Lockhart had completely de-boned Harry's right arm." He told his mum. He was starting to see where this was going.

"He used a spell on Harry and Harry had to spend the night in the infirmary, regrowing the bones of his right arm. I know it's been a few years since Mikey's hand got messed up but do you think it would work? I don't think it would have to be his entire arm, just the forearm down or maybe just from the wrist down?" her words trailed off as Pandora began examining her son's hand and range of motion.

"I think the lowest we can go, in order for him to regain the full use of his hand, is, like you said, mid forearm. Come, let's go to the infirmary. I'm confident of my work but I would like Madame Pomfrey's opinion as well." She stood and walked to the teacher's table to let Mike know what they were doing. He excused himself and followed her back down.

As the group made its way to the infirmary, they laughed and joked, remembering how Harry had been able to contort his arm all the way behind him before being given the Skele-Grow. Once there, they presented their idea to Madame Pomfrey. She did her own examine of Mikey's hand and agreed.

"Mr. Scabior, it's up to you now. It's your hand we're talking about, after all." Madame Pomfrey looked at the young man. He thought how much it was going to hurt regrowing a hand but then he thought of how much he loved playing Quidditch. Then he thought of how much he loved running this hand through Hermione's hair, how much more enjoyable it would be to actually FEEL her hair as opposed to just watching it wind around his fingers. He looked at the nurse, nodded and held out his arm.

The others watched as the spell was performed. As she went to get the Skele-Grow, Madame Pomfrey could hear him laughing as his arm flapped around uselessly. She turned and he, Marcus, Draco, Harry and Ron were having a mock sword fight with his arm AS his sword. She chuckled at the sight and shook her head. 'Oh, boys will be boys!'

"All right, once you take this, I'm also going to give you a Sleeping Draught. That will promote faster healing, Mr. Scabior. By tomorrow morning, your hand should be as good as new. Of course, this won't take away any scars or anything like that, you understand." She warned him as he protested the second potion.

He drank the Skele-Grow, gagging as it went down, then swilled down the Sleeping Draught right behind it. He began to feel the effects of the second potion immediately as his eyes drooped. He dropped onto the infirmary bed and pulled Hermione down with him. She sat there, stroking his head talking about their classes. Finally he was in a deep sleep. They left as Madame Pomfrey, once again, assured them that Mikey's hand would be as good as new in the morning.

After leaving the infirmary, Hermione decided to go to the library and work in some upcoming assignments. She figured this way, she could get her work done today and have all day tomorrow with Mikey.

Her friends, knowing it was almost impossible to keep Hermione Granger away from homework, left her to it and went outside to sit by the Black Lake. Draco and Marcus went to find the rest of the Quiiditch team and decide a day to start team practices.

Amelia was hard at work when she heard the other ladies start tittering. She looked up and smiled as Kingsley walked toward her. She gathered her belongings together, glancing at Mafalda's desk as she did. She still hadn't returned from wherever Runcorn had gone. Determined to befriend her as soon as possible, she scribbled a quick note and dropped it on her desk as she passed it.

As she and Kingsley walked to the Floo line to leave, she told him her suspicions regarding Runcorn, Umbridge and Mafalda. Knowing what a sweet, nervous young woman Mafalda was, Kingsley grimaced, not liking the idea of her pairing any more then Amelia did. They discussed the possibility that it was only Umbridge and Runcorn behind the law, even though there were four names on the document Kingsley had.

"Kings, there has to be at least four names on any kind of document presented to the lawmakers, right? What if Travers and Alden don't even realize their names were used? The two of them rarely ever show up at the ministry anymore. They might not even realize what happened! The people behind the law aren't revealed to the general public. If you hadn't investigated and found that document, we might not have known who to start looking at." Amelia wrapped her hand around his arm.

"I think I need to pay a visit to both Travers and Alden tomorrow morning. If your suspicions pan out, we might have that law overturned fairly soon. But that doesn't tell us WHY they had the law started in the first place." Kingsley mused.

"Leave that to me, dear. I think Mafalda might be our key to that particular mystery. Also, did you know that Albert Runcorn apparently has free rein to use Umbridge's office? He came out today as if it was his own." Amelia tipped her head up to peer at Kingsley.

"That is curious. Alright, you work on Mafalda and I'll work on Travers and Alden. Between the two of us, we'll get this whole thing straightened out." Kingsley squeezed her gently as they went to get ready to dine out.

The next morning, in the Hogwarts infirmary, Mikey woke up. He blinked in confusion. 'Why was he in the infirmary? Had he gotten in a fight and didn't remember it?' He stretched and flexed his hands. He froze. 'Hands?!' he jerked his hands down and held them out. He flexed them again. It wasn't a dream! His left hand was working as good as his right hand again! He remembered now. They had de-boned part of his arm. It worked! He let out a long howl of delight, waking a few first years who were at the other end of the infirmary. Madame Pomfrey came running in alarm. Once she realized what he was so delighted about, she had to laugh with him. After examining his hands and taking him through some range of motion tests, she showed him some simple exercises to help strengthen his hand.

"You're free to go, Mr. Scabior. Take care of that hand. Give my regards to your parents." She sent him out, knowing he'd want to show them or Hermione right away. He ran out, whopping in delight. Outside the portrait guarding the Head room, he banged on the door. It took only a moment for Hermione to open the door. Before she could even greet him, he grabbed her into a tight hug and kissed her soundly. As she was gasping for breath, he released her and held up his hands. She squealed as she finally saw what he was so excited about. His left hand was better! They hurried down to the Great Hall to show his parents.

As they came bursting in, everyone stopped to watch them. He had his left hand in his pocket, as usual. After making sure that Hermione was seated, he walked on up to the Head Table and stopped short in front of his parents. He slowly raised his arms up and propped them on the table as he grinned madly and began wagging the fingers of both hands. Both parents jumped up, came around the table and hugged him tightly as they looked at his hand.


	28. the plot behins to come clear

The plot begins to come clear.

Mafalda reveals some answers. Slytherin and Gryffindor gear up for pitch time Harry offers Scabior a friendly warning. Full moon week has arrived. Kingsley makes a discovery.

Amelia made a point of walking into the Ministry right behind Malfalda the next morning. As they stood in line waiting for a free Floo, Amelia glanced over and asked, "How are you today, Mafalda?"

"I,,I'm fine, how are you today?" Mafalda asked uncertainly. She knew Amelia was matched to the Minister. Amelia could see that Mafalda was clearly nervous, speaking to her. She kept glancing around, as if watching for someone. If Amelia was a betting woman, she'd have bet her last sickle that Mafalda had been cautioned against speaking to the Minister, if not her.

"Have you made any plans yet? I haven't even thought about them yet. But I'm an awful procrastinator so no surprise there. My own mum has told me time and again, when the time comes, I'll probably be late for my own funeral," she laughed, trying to joke around and get Mafalda to relax a bit.

To her delight, her little joke surprised a laugh out of Mafalda. "My mum tells me that, too. She and dad have taken over my plans. They want to take their time and make it perfect. They say, 'I'll only have one husband, one perfect first wedding, so it's got to be special." Mafalda ducked her head as a sad look came over her face.

Amelia was quick to notice it. "Mafalda, what's wrong? Please, I didn't mean to upset you!" even as Amelia apologized, Mafalda was shaking her head.

Mafalda took another look around before leaning close to Amelia. "Tell the Minister to warn them. Potter, Granger and those two Snatcher boys. Tell them to watch out for Dolores." She shuddered as she looked at Amelia.

"Dolores? What does she have to do with this?" Amelia wondered. Mafalda gasped and backed away. She turned and practically ran into the Floo. By the time Amelia made it through, she was nowhere to be seen. Something had spooked Mafalda, Amelia had no doubt about that. Maybe she hadn't meant to say anything out loud. Amelia, herself, had more than once slipped up and said more than she intended to, at various times.

Amelia reached her desk and noticed a note. She reached out and flipped it over. "Cafeteria, ten o'clock." Was all that it said. Just like that, she knew it was from Mafalda, though there was no signature. Maybe she wanted to be somewhere open, where she wouldn't be able to say much at all.

At Hogwarts, the Slytherins were celebrating having two of their best former players back. Harry looked at Mikey. "Listen, she might or might not have the power to do this anymore, but be careful if you rack up anymore detentions with Umbridge. One of the worst things she did to me back in fifth year was banning me from the Quidditch team. I'm surprised she hasn't already insisted that I step down as Captain, to keep me from playing this year.

Mikey nodded. "I'll keep that in mind." He had no intention of doing anything that would reduce his time with Hermione or his chance to play Quidditch again.

Of course, that didn't mean no more pranks at all. No, no, no, for all the damage she had done with the 'Muggleborn Registration Law' and snapping as many wands as she could, Dolores had to pay! He shuddered to think how power mad she would have been and what destruction she would have caused had Voldemort prevailed.

Hermione was, once again, in the library. She was searching through the school records to make sense of WHY Dolores had felt the need to add a Squib onto the marriage law. She thought possibly Dolores might think that because Filch had helped her before, he might be willing to again. Filch, however, had made his peace with the students and staff at the Battle. He hadn't been able to take an active role in the fighting but he had taken what younger students he could gather, that hadn't been evacuated in time, into an empty classroom, barricaded the door and kept them safe for the entirety of the fight.

After the fighting was over, he was the first one to begin cleaning up in preparation of the school being repaired and reopened. He had proven himself to be a worthy caretaker of the school and intended to stay with the school as long as he was able to.

As usual, both Slytherin and Gryffindor were fighting for pitch time. Partly because they both had a lot of members who needed to get familiar with one another and partly because, well hell, that's just what Slytherin and Gryffindor did best, was fight!

The decision of pitch time was actually made easy for Slytherin due to the full moon. They decided the first week of practice would be for familiarizing both Marcus and Draco with the current Quidditch players and keeping their reserve players game ready. The next week would be soon enough to introduce Scabior and McKeon back into the fold.

Mikey was worried about full moon week. Hermione would be without him there to protect her. He knew that his Aunt and Uncle, having completed Auror training before becoming barristers, would be there to guard her but it didn't mean he was going to stop worrying about it. He wished he could take Hermione with him but there was only a small rickety cabin there for them to keep clothes to change into after their transformation and he knew it wouldn't stand up to a beating, should he or anyone else happen to catch her scent. She'd be torn to shreds and they'd never realize it until they transformed back to human form. He wasn't about to take THAT chance with his girl. Better that she stay here under the watchful eyes of his family than take that risk, especially now that he knew he was going to be a dad.

Just to keep himself from worrying so much, he let his family in on his concern, regarding Hermione. They all promised to keep a close eye on her, especially around Umbridge. His dad would do a walk by while she was in Umbridge's class. And the rest of them would keep watch over her the rest of the time.

Amelia wondered all morning what Mafalda would tell her. At ten minutes till ten, she began preparing to go to the cafeteria. She glanced over and Mafalda was doing the same. The woman glanced at her, flipped a look at Runcorn's closed door and then headed towards the cafeteria. Realizing she wanted to escape before Runcorn realized who she was meeting, Amelia waited until she was out of sight before leaving herself.

Amelia walked into the cafeteria. Mafalda was already seated near the back of the room. After getting a tea and sweet cake, she walked over and sat down. She didn't intend to jump straight into the marriage law question but was going to make general small talk and then steer the conversation towards weddings and plans. Mafalda had different ideas.

Mafalda looked up at her. "Are you trying to get the marriage law overturned?"

Well, so much for subtlety. "Yes, Kingsley and I are looking into the possibility of it." Amelia answered carefully.

"How soon will it be?" Mafalda asked.

"I'm not sure. It will depend on how many people are opposed to it being dropped." Amelia answered. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't want to marry HIM! I can't stand the sight of him and if I have to marry him, I might just end it all! I wouldn't mind getting married, as long as it was to ANYONE but him!" Mafalda declared firmly.

'Well, that certainly cleared up any confusion on her part!' thought Amelia, amused. "You're right, Kingsley is trying his best to get this law overturned and I've been trying to help him. We're looking into the possibility that two of the signatures were forged or signed without being informed of what they were signing."

"Whose signatures?" Mafalda asked.

"Travers and Alden. We think they might not realize what their signatures were used for."

"Travers thought he was signing another anti werewolf bill. Alden thought he was signing a petition to vote Kingsley out of office in favor of Umbridge." Mafalda looked right at her. "I was there the day she and he tricked them into giving over their signatures. They used the Imperio so they wouldn't actually LOOK at what they were signing."

Amelia made a note of that and sent it to Kingsley so he could take copies of the documents when he went to question the two men. "Is there anything else you know about this? Anything at all? Has Umbridge ever mentioned any plans regarding Hogwarts?"

"She once mentioned she'd like to have kept the school under her thumb so the students could ALL be trained the way SHE wanted them trained. In other words, kept in the dark as far as actual training went. She also said she'd like to be rid of Potter and Granger as they were a serious kink in her plans. She wanted to put those two Snatcher boys into Azkaban so badly, she couldn't stand it and she railed continuously at me through the Floo over the fact that Greyback had been released. She was the one who signed his incarceration papers, you know."

Amelia was taking notes as fast as she could. Now all she had to do was connect some more dots and the plot would be laid bare. "How does Runcorn fit into this scheme, though? And Filch, at the school?"

Mafalda burst out laughing. "She threw Filch's name into the pot, hoping to discredit the Minister. He wasn't the only Squib to land up on that list, just the only one at the school. She and Runcorn were already planning to be matched. But then, she landed Filch and he landed ME!" her laughter turned to sobs. Amelia got up and rushed around the table to her side.

"Listen to me, Mafalda. You will NOT have to marry him! Not if Kingsley and I have anything to do with it. We WILL get that law overturned, you'll see!" she hugged and reassured her.

As the week of the full moon began, Fenrir, Alex and Mikey prepared to Apparate their new pack members to the hunting grounds. The four older boys were divided between Alex and Mikey. Fen took Seamus, Lavender and the little first year girl through. Hermione was almost in tears at the thought of not seeing Mikey for a whole week but comforted herself with the remembrance that he would be back, it was only a temporary separation. She determined that she would have the mystery behind Umbridge's actions solved by the time he got back. Then maybe they could work on saving Mr. Filch from her and getting her thrown BACK out of the school, for good this time!

Kingsley walked toward the front door of Travers Manor. As he reached it, the door opened without him having to knock. He entered and a house elf, without blinking, took him straight to Travers' study. The man himself was sitting behind his desk, reading the Daily Prophet with a look of confusion. "Kingsley, old friend, this law! How did they ever get this law into existence? It's positively archaic!"

That was all the confirmation Kingsley needed. Travers had NO CLUE how his signature had been used. He sat the documents down and pushed them across to him. Travers picked them up and gasped, horrified to see his own name boldly staring back at him. "What? How? Kingsley, what the hell is this? How is my name here? Surely you know I'd never approve this kind of foolishness! What? Alden? Alden signed this? What the devil was he thinking?! We need to get him here, right away!" Travers turned to his fireplace and threw in some Floo powder. "Alden, damn it man, get your bloody arse over here! You have some explaining to do!"

Less than five minutes passed before Alden stepped through the Floo. "The hell are you on about, man! What the devil have I done?!" when shown the document for the marriage law, his jaw dropped. "The devil you say! No way I'd signoff on something that preposterous! What the bloody hell was that woman thinking?!"

"You were both Imperioed into signing this document. Therefore, this law can be declared null and void and overturned BUT only if the two of you are willing to stand up and declare, under oath, that neither of you realized what you were signing. Otherwise, the law will stand."

"Let me know the day and time and I'll be there, Kingsley. This law is ridiculous, outdated and unnecessary." Declared Travers. Alden agreed with him. Kingsley thanked them for their time and left the two gentleman, discussing their next hunting trip.

He got back to the Ministry in record time and went straight in search of Amelia. She had just finished talking to Mafalda. They had walked back to the secretarial pool, giggling about wedding dresses. Kingsley smiled. The young woman hadn't had much to smile about in a while. Runcorn came out of his office and frowned sternly at Mafalda, who glared defiantly back at him. "Mafalda, I need to speak to you! Privately!" he barked. She put her purse into the drawer of her desk and took her time picking up her notebook and quill. "Yes, sir." She snapped smartly back at him.

Kingsley held a hand in front of his mouth as he stifled a snort of laughter. Amelia's lips were twitching as she walked over to meet him. "Are we being a bad influence on Miss Hopkirk, Miss Thompson?" Kingsley teased softly, to prevent Runcorn from overhearing him.

"Just a little bit, Mr. Shacklebolt." She joked back.

They walked up to the lobby as they were about to go to Hogwarts. They knew Hermione would want to know their latest findings and appraise them of anything new she had discovered.


	29. Full moon madness

Full moon madness

Just basically trying to get the story moving again. Still trying to work out some kinks in the Umbridge takeover plot but it's going relatively the way I wanted it to go. Got a few ideas of things I can do with it. The story should be winding down soon, I know I haven't talked much about some of the other couples but the main focus was always going to be Scabior and Hermione. Will probably use the companion pieces story to post some stories of the other couples.

After Fen and the boys left for the hunting grounds, Hermione suddenly found herself with more guards than the Muggle royal family had. Literally the only place she was allowed to go, by herself was the loo and she still had the company of the other girls, unless she was actually taking a bath. Every house got in on the guard duty, up to and including Slytherin, much to the surprise of everyone except Mike, Alexander and Severus.

Finally, she put her foot down. "Listen, I'm NOT a fragile, little China doll! I will not break if I don't have a guard with me all day every day! I know Mikey was worried about me being alone while he's gone but I am perfectly fine! You don't need to hover over me constantly! I won't break that easily!" she snapped at Harry and Ron, who were the two that had hovered the most.

"Listen, Hermione. We just want to be sure that Umbridge doesn't get a chance to get her mitts on you. You know that's Mikey's biggest fear. He knows, as bad as she hates him and Alex, you and Victoria are her biggest targets. She knows hurting the two of you is the surest way to hurt them. Haven't you noticed Victoria getting the same treatment?" Harry laughed. Hermione's eyes widened and she glanced at Vicky, who nodded at her.

"Yep, they've been doing the same thing with me. Why do you think I've been following you around?" Vicky laughed as well. Hermione conceded the point. After all, Mikey had as good as told her that was his greatest fear after he had collapsed in Defense. He'd not wanted HER to tell Umbridge he couldn't attend detention, he'd wanted her to send his dad, she remembered that now. He'd been afraid Umbridge would try to hurt her. Had it not been for his dad taking her 'detention', Umbridge WOULD have, she'd been prepared to send Hermione a good ways up a rickety ladder, possibly leading to a fall and miscarriage.

Just then a note floated down in front of Hermione, inviting her to the Headmistress's office. It seemed the Minister of Magic and his fiancée wanted to visit with her. She sat up straight with excitement. Surely they had found something! That had to be why they were here. She quickly explained what she'd been doing so much research on the past month or so.

"But, Hermione, if they repeal the law, then some of the people already matched won't want to go through with the wedding. If they're already married, they'll want to break their vows and bonds. What then?" Ron asked.

"If they can break their bond that easily, then they weren't a good match to start with." Hermione reasoned.

"The matches that are meant to be will hold together." Harry said firmly, knowing why Ron had raised that particular doubt. He still doubted that Mikey was going to honor his vows to Hermione. Harry knew that was a ridiculous thing to doubt, all anyone had to do was watch how intently Mikey watched Hermione to know, there was not a chance in hell of him NOT marrying her. He hated that Ron was still trying to drive them apart.

He needed to worry more about himself and Parvati than anyone else. Also he needed to worry more about making peace with Malfoy for the sake of their fiancée than anything. If Harry knew the twins as well as he thought he did, they would NOT put up with their husbands constantly clashing and fighting!

Hermione and Victoria went to McGonagall's office, with Harry and Ron trailing behind them. As they gave the password, they tried to figure out what it was they might have discovered about Umbridge. McGonagall bid them to enter and they walked in to see her, Shacklebolt and Amelia sipping tea and nibbling biscuits.

"Hermione, dear, how are you? I'm sure you and Miss Samms, is it? You both remember Amelia Thompson, right?" Kingsley proudly re-introduced Amelia to the girls. They shook hands with her enthusiastically.

"Have you found anything here, Hermione?" asked Kingsley.

"Not much but I DID receive a surprising bit of advice and a warning. Mr. Filch told me that she communicates daily with someone at the Ministry, he's heard her talking to them. He also told me that she's got it out for me, Harry, Mikey, Alex and Fen. She wants rid of me and Harry for fifth year. She's angry that Fen was released and thinks the boys should have GONE to Azkaban." Hermione reported.

"Well, we have found out quite a bit on our end. We possibly might be able to get the marriage law overturned and send both Umbridge and Runcorn to Azkaban for use of Unforgivables and illegally voting in an unnecessary law." Kingsley told them. He told them everything he and Amelia had found out.

"Just practice caution a little longer, Hermione. I know it irks you that everyone wants to wrap you up in cotton balls but this is a dangerous pair we are dealing with. At the same time, I know we also have a dangerous pair. Frankly, I think our pair is more dangerous, which is why I'm glad WE have them." He smiled as he remembered some of those boys' wilder exploits. "I know they're gone for the full moon this week but I think it'll take longer than a week to get things set into motion anyway. I think the earliest we can expect to get anything done is November or December. There might be some unhappy people in the next few months who are already married or about to be but I can't guarantee anything earlier than November."

Hermione sighed. She could deal with it for a while longer, she SUPPOSED. It would be easier when Mikey got back because he liked spending as much time with her as he could. He'd already told her, before he left, that when he got back, he was going to try to steel himself to show her his Voldemort memories. Those were going to be the hardest ones for him to talk about because they also involved her. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too hard on him, though, because she had a few of her own from that time to share with HIM. So basically, this time, they would both need to talk and help each other heal. As she thought about it, she realized this would show her what had happened at the Manor. Draco had told them he had been repeatedly hit by the Imperio and the Crucio. She was, quite frankly, not sure that she was even ready to see them, much less make him relive the whole experience.

"Amelia, we're planning to have a baby/bridal shower soon for Hermione. It would be wonderful to have you there. What do you say?" Vicky asked Amelia eagerly.

Amelia smiled. "I'd love to be there. When you decide the time and day or evening, owl me. I'll be sure to be here."

Hermione was covering her face. "All right, this is the first I've heard of this!"

Victoria laughed. "Weelll, I might not have been supposed to mention it yet but I just had to invite Amelia while she was here, didn't I?!"

Hermione laughed at Vicky's spirited defence of her actions. This was one reason why she was glad she was going to be her cousin in law. Life with Vicky in it would never be dull. The same could also be said of Mikey. She already knew being married to him was going to keep her on her toes.

Kingsley and McGonagall exchanged amused glances. They were pleased that the three were getting along so well. While the girls gossiped among themselves. McGonagall took great pleasure in filling him in on the first month of school. Soon she had Shacklebolt shouting with laughter and slapping his knees in amusement. It almost made him wish he could have been a fly on the wall of Umbridge's classroom. He was still chortling as he and Amelia prepared to take their leave.

Hermione and Victoria stayed and had tea and biscuits with McGonagall and walked down to the dining hall with her. Harry and Ron, who had stayed out in the hall while they visited, walked them down. Then they went to get their Quidditch gear and go practice. Parvati and Padma were quietly talking but quickly hushed as soon as they saw Hermione. Victoria was quick to let them know she'd already spilled the beans about the party they were planning. The four of them sat and talked gifts until it was time to eat.

Over dinner, quite a few of the eighth year students received letters from their families regarding their future spouses. The main gist of all the letters were in regards to holiday and wedding plans. Since all marriages were to be carried out by the new year, a lot of the couples were leaving the plans to their parents while they worried about school.

Hermione's parents had written to tell her to invite Mikey and his family for the holidays. She was leaving her wedding to her parents, they had been planning it for years already, so she told them to go ahead and solidify some of their plans after they contacted Mikey's parents to coordinate schedules. They were looking forward to meeting this boy they had been hearing so many conflicting stories about. They weren't sure whether Ron was deliberately trying to make the boy look bad so they would reject him or whether Harry and Hermione were trying to make him look good so they would accept him without question.

As far as Hermione was aware, she was the only one who was actually pregnant, therefore her parents were angling for a Hogsmeade weekend when she and Mikey could bring the friends they wanted to invite. They had already coordinated with his family and everything was set, they just needed a date and the happy couple.

After much discussion with the other girls, Hermione went to speak to McGonagall at the Head Table, then came back. She sent a letter back to her parents, confirming a Hogsmeade weekend the next week. Mikey would be back by then. He'd told her before he left, he didn't care when or where they were married. All she had to do was tell him when to be there and where he was going, he'd be waiting for her.

Molly had written Ron, telling him to invite Parvati and her sister to visit over the holidays. Of course, this meant extending an invitation to Draco Malfoy as well. Ron looked quite green around the gills at the thought of having to face Malfoy during the holidays. He knew, though, that he was going to have to get used to seeing a lot more of Malfoy than he'd ever wanted to see. The twins were very close, so of course their spouses would be expected to be equally as close.

Neville's grandmother had written to Pansy and, much to Neville's and the other Gryffindors' surprise, the two had began to send regular owls and Pansy had happily accepted Mrs. Longbottom's invitation for a holiday visit. She had taken to randomly dropping onto the Gryffindor bench beside Neville to either ask or tell him about some new or rare plant she thought would interest him. They were actually getting along much better than either of them had anticipated.

Aidan and Millicent had discovered that, as long as she let him talk Quidditch all the time, they got along great, but as soon as the Quidditch talk dried up, so did their companionship. Things were not looking good for them. They had come to the conclusion that their marriage would be pretty much in name only and mainly platonic except when they needed to produce a child or two.

Olivier and Alicia got along with mixed results as did Blaise and Katie. The two couples were both used to going their own ways and not having to answer to anyone. The boys were having difficulties understanding that they couldn't just expect Alicia and Katie to drop everything and hang around, waiting on them hand and foot.

Marcus and Angelina were both looking forward to facing off on the Quidditch pitch. As far as they were concerned, it was a dog eat dog world and they were both determined to win. The fiery couple had already clashed several times since day one of the school year. At the same time, they could not hide the fact that they were hugely attracted to each other. Half the school was betting they didn't make it to the altar without one of them dying. The rest of the school predicted that Angelina would be the second pregnant bride to walk down the isle.

Goyle and Lovegood were a surprisingly easygoing couple. As long as he let her tell him about the Nargles and Wrackspurts without laughing at her, she didn't mind a bit that he rarely spoke. He was always surprisingly gentle with her. Now that the war was over and he was allowed to be himself, he was able to drop the bullying façade he'd shown in the early years of his schooling and was actually excelling in their Care of Magical Creatures class. Hagrid was especially proud of him for helping him with Buckbeak, who Hagrid had been allowed to bring back to Hogwarts after the death of Sirius Black.

It's been a while since I thanked new follows/favorites so here goes: lucyria, marianna79, rainy5982, trochellwms, grolet, Li'l Obsessions, MarleneMcKinnonBlack, booknut95


	30. Wedding plans

Wedding plans

Wedding plans are talked about. Marcus Flint is pleasantly surprised. The boys return home.

Padma, Parvati and Victoria were planning Hermione's baby/bridal shower. They invited Pansy, Millicent and Luna over. Angelina, Alicia and Katie were busy talking Quidditch.

"Do you think we need to wait until Mikey comes back?" Padma asked Victoria. Vicky thought about it and shook her head. "No, not for the baby shower. We'll be doing that in the Head Girl's room. Hermione can show him everything once he gets back. You know he's going to want some alone time with her after a whole week away from her. He'll probably be interested in what all the baby gets. We can do the bridal shower after they get back, though, because he'll be with the other boys at a mutual bachelor party. That will be taking place in the Great Hall. The boys will be in Hogsmeade at the Hogs Head." Alex had already told her that tidbit.

Her parents had contacted Hermione's parents with the possibility of a double wedding. As close as the cousins were, their parents thought it was a fantastic idea. Like Mikey, Alex didn't really care about wedding plans, just tell him when and where to show up and he'd be there with bells on!

Victoria confided to Hermione that she had been feeling slightly iffy lately, she just hadn't been brave enough to go see Madame Pomfrey yet. Hermione squealed softly at the possibility of not being the only pregnant bride in the lineup. She insisted, right after breakfast, that Victoria go see the school nurse. Hermione would go with her for moral support. While they were walking through the corridor, they met Professor Umbridge.

"What's this? Shouldn't the two of you be in classes? This might call for a det-" she began.

"Hermione, darling, is it time for your ultrasound already? Could Mike and I go with you? It'll be so very exciting seeing how big he's gotten from the last test." Pandora asked cheerfully. After she spoke, Hermione realized it was, indeed, time for her next ultrasound. Mike smirked at Umbridge as they all walked away. She was shaking angrily.

"Thank you! I wasn't sure if we would have gotten away from her scot-free." Hermione sighed with relief.

"No problem, dear, just let one of us know if you ever need an escort. We'll be glad to walk with you." Pandora told her.

They arrived in the infirmary and Hermione insisted that Victoria take her test as she got ready to lay down and expose her belly. After smoothing the liquid on, Madame Pomfrey laid the paddle on her lower abdomen and began moving it around. Pretty soon, they were all looking, enraptured, at the image of a small infant. He was in perfect position to clearly show that he was a little boy. He held his little, tiny fist against his mouth. Hermione was holding back tears of joy at the sight of her son. She couldn't wait until he was here and she could hold him in her arms.

Victoria's test, to her delight, came back positive. It was too early for her to have an ultrasound yet but she made Hermione swear she would come with her to view her baby, too. They were thrilled to realize their children would be fairly close in age, not as close as Mikey and Alex but still fairly close. When they met up with Padma and Parvati, they made sure the twins knew both the bridal and baby shower would be for both Vicky and Hermione.

Hermione helped Vicky plan a quiet evening in the Room of Requirement, for when the boys got back, to tell Alex he was also going to be a dad. They got hold of some owl order catalogs and began cooing over the baby outfits. Hermione wrote to her parents and enclosed pictures from her ultrasound so they could brag about their soon to arrive grandson.

The evening before the boys were due back, all the eight year girls were once again laughing and giggling in the Head Girl's room. They had all brought presents for Vicky and Hermione.

Hermione noticed that Angelina was especially wistful of every little outfit opened and displayed. She noticed that Angelina kept almost unconsciously touching her own belly. She drew her to the side and quietly asked her what was going on. Angelina confided that Hermione and Vicky wouldn't be alone, she was also pregnant. She had only had it confirmed that day, just before the baby shower. Hermione hugged her and offered any support Angelina needed.

"I need to figure out how to tell Marcus without his head getting any bigger than it already is. He's already been boasting that he'd make sure I walked down the aisle already carrying his heir. When I mentioned the possibility of the marriage law being overturned, he looked at me like I was crazy. 'Now that I finally have you, damned if I'm going to lose you, darling! I'm going to tie you to me every way I can!' That's what he told me, Hermione!" Angelina laughed, happily but slightly hysterically as well.

Hermione laughed with her. "If you need me to go with you, I will. Vicky went with me when I went to tell Mikey I was expecting."

Angelina looked at her. "Could we go now, you, me and Vicky?" she looked unsure of herself.

Hermione motioned Vicky over and explained. Vicky nodded and they slipped out. They went down to the dungeons and found the Slytherin common room. They knocked until it opened. It was a first year student who opened the door. They sent him back to tell Marcus Flint his fiancée was outside. Shortly, after that, Marcus himself came out. Hermione and Vicky retreated a short distance away to allow them some privacy.

Marcus looked confused at first, they watched as it slowly dawned on him what Angelina was trying to tell him. A huge grin covered his face. He snatched her around the waist, gently of course, picked her up and twirled her around, whopping happily. Then he set her down and held her against him. They smiled as he tucked his face into the crook of her neck and was quietly speaking to her. Whatever he'd said was apparently all Angelina needed to reassure her that he really was happy about the baby. She was smiling happily as she kissed him, then walked back to Hermione and Vicky. "He was thrilled, oh Merlin, he was so thrilled, Hermione! Thank you both for coming with me!" she hugged them tightly. They walked back to the Head Girl's room and rejoined the party. They were amused when they figured out nobody had even noticed they were gone.

Hermione piled all the gifts onto a table in the corner of the room and prepared to lay down. Everyone else had already turned in. She looked around the room, trying to envision it with Quidditch posters hanging on the walls. This Friday night would be one of her last nights as a single woman. It would be the night of her bridal shower. Sunday morning, she and Vicky would be walking down the aisle to marry Mikey and Alex. How her parents had managed to get the pastor of the little church in Hogsmeade to officiate a double wedding this soon, she had absolutely no clue, but they had. They would be meeting Mikey for the first time at the wedding reception and she was suddenly scared to death that they wouldn't like him.

The next day, both she and Vicky were standing in the doorway, staring impatiently down the road to the gates. As they were about to give up, they saw a group of people walking up the carriage path. It was Fen in the lead, with little Jasmine seated on his shoulders. Behind him were Mikey and Alex with students lined up behind them. Seamus and two males walked behind Mikey as Lavender and the other two males walked behind Alex. Upon seeing their girls waiting for them, Mikey and Alex broke formation and ran to meet them, after getting silent permission from Fen. They grabbed them and held on like they were never going to let go.

Miley slid his hands into Hermione's hair and tipped her face up to him. "I love you. I don't know if I've ever told you yet. I really love you. I can't wait for us to be married. I'm so looking forward to seeing our child." He whispered to her. Hermione wrapped her arms around his waist. "I missed you this week. I love you, too! It won't be much longer. I promise you."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him up the stairs. He followed her back to the Head Girl's room. She pulled him in the door and over to the corner table. "Look at all the gorgeous little outfits our baby has! All the toys! He's got enough stuff here to last until his second or third birthday!" Mikey smiled at the pile of loot given to their little boy. Right now, he was more concerned about the little mama than the little boy.

He quickly alerted her to that fact by smoothing back her hair and lightly kissing the spot where he'd soon be placing a mating mark. Since the mark would be deep enough to leave a scar and would effectively turn her into a wolf, he was leaving it up to her as to when he turned her. They both knew it was going to happen sooner or later.

They backed up until his knees hit the side of the bed. He sat down, laid back and pulled her down with him. As she turned over and straddled him, they both conveniently let their classes slide out of their minds. They didn't resurface until lunch time.

Soon after Hermione and Mikey disappeared, Vicky pulled Alex away, leading him to the Room of Requirement and they pulled their own disappearing act. Both couples showed up, at lunch time, to a chorus of applause from the students and catcalls from their eighth year peers.

Mikey and Alex were slightly shocked to discover they wouldn't be single much longer but, at the same time, they were thrilled that they could claim their witches so soon. Marcus and Angelina were making plans to be the next ones down the aisle. Angelina and her mother both were 'pants' at planning parties or anything, therefore she'd asked Marcus if his mother would be willing to organize their wedding. He'd already sent a letter to his mother and they were waiting for a response.

Harry and Ginny had already announced their wedding would be New Year's Eve and everyone was invited. They had left their wedding plans to Andromeda since Harry had asked her if little Teddy could be his ring bearer. He was looking forward to watching the little toddler come down the aisle with their rings. He and Ginny planned to help Andromeda raise Teddy, right along with their children. They were planning to have at least two children.

Narcissa and Molly had met to tentatively discuss plans and discovered they had a lot in common as far as what they wanted out of a wedding. They were now owling every other day with new ideas to consider. Narcissa declared them the perfect wedding planners. She had the money and social connections and Molly had the creativity and bursts of genius to make this the wedding of the century. Draco and Ron both rolled their eyes when they read that! The twins mother was also thrilled to be involved.

Padma and Parvati weren't worried about anything except making sure the 'wedding planners' knew to make their dresses identical. Inspired by Hermione and Vicky they also wanted a double wedding, even though they had previously declared they wanted different dresses and their own wedding dates.

Both Pansy and Millicent's mothers were in charge of their weddings. They had been planning these events for years. The grooms might not be who they had planned on but that didn't change their enthusiasm one bit.

Luna and Gregory were planning a very simple ceremony in the Lovegoods back yard. They were only inviting their families and friends from Hogwarts.


	31. the bridal shower attack

The bridal shower attack

Hermione pulled Lavender aside to see if she and Seamus needed any help with wedding plans. Lavender shocked her by saying she and Seamus were already married. They were planning an official trip to the Ministry, to record it, but they had shared a simple hand fasting ceremony while they were away during full moon week.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. We couldn't wait to get back. We're already expecting. Moma Mary says it looks like we might have a boy, from the way I'm carrying. I'm so excited but I'm scared, too!" Lavender looked like she might start crying.

"Oh, Lavender! Don't cry, you're not alone. I'll be there, Vicky will and Angelina will be there as well. We're all expecting." Hermione hugged Lavender, reassuring her. It was starting to look like there was going to be a bumper crop of babies right from the first year of this stupid marriage law. Lavender hugged her back. Knowing she wasn't the only expectant mother was a huge relief to her.

"How far along are you, Hermione?" she asked.

"As close as I can figure, I'm about four to five months along." Hermione replied. "Victoria and Angelina have both just recently found out they were expecting."

"I just found out when we were away. Mary is a midwife and she was the one who brought my attention to it." Lavender revealed.

Hermione hugged her again. "I'm so happy for you and Seamus! We need to have a baby shower for you! They got some of the most adorable little outfits for me, I'll have to show them to you. Are you far enough along for an ultrasound yet?"

Lavender giggled. "I'm not sure but I can't wait to see our baby! Seamus is more scared than I am. He said he knows I'll bear the worst part of it, carrying the baby, having the baby and he says he doesn't care how many fines we have to pay for not having more children. After this baby, he's not going to put me through another pregnancy." She looked down and rubbed her belly. "He wasn't really happy about this one, just because he knows how rough a pregnancy can be. He doesn't like even the idea of me having to be in any kind of pain, at all!"

Hermione smiled. 'That sounded like kind hearted Seamus, all right!' "How did it go, with the rest of the wolf pack?"

"Everyone was so kind and welcoming, Hermione! They weren't at all like they've been portrayed in the media!" Lavender exclaimed.

It was Friday morning and Hermione was, as usual, the first one up or so she'd thought, until she'd spotted Lavender. Tonight would be her bridal shower and then, in two more days, her wedding day. She was starting to get serious butterflies in her stomach. She couldn't believe she was finally this close to being married.

Victoria was the next one down. She hugged Lavender as well. Knowing the girl considered Greyback as her father, that made her sister to Alex and Mikey. Hermione told her they had one more mother to add to their ranks. Vicky squealed happily. Just then Angelina showed up. They quickly shared the good news with her. She reached across the table and hugged Lavender after congratulating her. They sat down and waited for the other future brides to show up.

"Lavender, will you be one of my bridesmaids? I meant to ask before you left and it slipped my mind. My mother wants to meet you and Seamus as well as Mikey and Alex at the reception. I've told her so much about all of you, she can't wait to meet everyone!" Lavender happily accepted the invitation.

"Don't look now but Umbridge looks like she's just bitten into something sour. She's staring right at all of us." Victoria reported. Hermione chewed her lower lip.

"I hope she isn't planning on giving any of us detention. That would be awful, missing my own bridal shower because I have detention!" Hermione softly exclaimed.

The boys walked in and made their way to the table. They leaned in to whisper. "When you get to Umbridge's room, don't sit near the front."

"OH, no! Mikey, what did you DO?" Hermione yelped softly as Mikey pulled her closer.

"Shhh, nothing you need to worry about. Room of Requirement later?" he smiled wickedly. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Is this something that's going to land you up in detention?" he kissed her and declined to answer.

As the rest of the couples trickled in, she tried questioning Alex, Marcus and finally Seamus who had walked in with them. None of them would give so much as a hint away. When breakfast was over, Mikey held her back a moment.

"So,, Sunday, yeah? Big day." She could feel his hands shaking slightly. She thought it was so cute that he was nervous and trying so hard not to show it. She leaned into him. "Yeah, Sunday. I'm so nervous I've had butterflies ever since mum contacted me the other day. I had no idea she would want to have it in Hogsmeade. I honestly didn't realize there even was a place to do it there."

Mikey laughed. "Well, there is, so get used to the idea. Hey, I just thought. After Sunday, no more need for the Room of Requirements if we want to be alone. Plenty of places in the Head Girls suite to be put to use."

Hermione turned red but smiled at the idea. They got up and headed down to Umbridge's classroom. As they came in the door, they saw everybody staring straight at Umbridge. She looked at the toad shaped woman and couldn't see any difference. There wasn't even any inkstains on her forehead. She'd finally managed to get all the green dye off of her, although they had it on good authority from Filch himself, that the kitten plates were still green and not happy about it!

"Alright, today we will be discussing where you will be living, some of you will be living with parents for a while, some of you will have homes of your own right away. First we will discuss the parental living arrangements."

"Yes, Professor Umbridge" the whole class answered as one. She stared at them, unnerved by the obedient, for once, answer. She continued her lecture. Every time she paused to make sure they were actually paying attention to her, she got the same reaction. "Yes, Professor Umbridge." She also noticed the class never seemed to blink or look away from her. For some reason, their complete attention and obedient answers were completely freaking her out. As the clock finally ran down and the bell rang, she breathed a huge, clearly visible sigh of relief. "Out, out! Five inches of parchment on the main lecture points today, go now! Out with you!"

As she crossed the space between her desk and the front row of desks, there was an explosion of smoke that completely engulfed her. The next visible sight of her led the entire class to burst out laughing. She was covered in soot front her head to her feet. She began shaking violently. "DETENTION! ALL OF YOU! DETENTION! MONDAY NIGHT, EIGHT PM ON THE DOT! YOU HORRID LITTLE BEASTS!"

The class rushed out, cackling with laughter. They ran up to the Defense hallway before they all began falling down, laughing. Professor Snape opened the door, took one look at them and rolled his eyes. "Miss Granger, Miss Samms. Please enlighten me as to the latest prank on Umbridge," he said, suppressing a smile.

"First we freaked her out, all through class, by never taking our eyes off her and only answering 'Yes, Professor Umbridge.' Then she walked into a smoke bomb and it completely covered her in soot. Now we all have detention Monday night!" Hermione responded, giggling madly. Professor Snape rubbed his eyes as he shook his head. 'Oh, these students were gunning for suspension or expulsion!'

After Defense, they headed down to lunch. In another few hours, it would be time for her bridal shower and she was getting more and more jittery. She almost felt like faking being sick to get out of it but she had a feeling that would only move the location of it from the Great Hall to the Head Girl's room.

Back in the dungeons, Dolores Umbridge had gotten as much of the soot off as she could. She stormed over to her fireplace, threw in some Floo powder and yelled for Albert Runcorn. Once he answered, she began yelling. Unbeknown to her, Filch had been sent to clean up the mess in the classroom. He honestly didn't intend to eavesdrop, until he heard Hermione's name mentioned. Then he inched closer and listened closely.

"I can't tolerate these little hellions anymore. Please tell me some good news from your end! How close are we to having a new Dark Lord?" she demanded.

"Not nearly as close as we need to be, Dolores. These things take time and proof, only one of which we have to spare right now. People want hard proof before they get brave enough to support another Dark Lord! I have yet to find a single bit of documentation stating the boy was named his heir." He sighed with irritation.

"Well, you need to hurry because I don't know how much longer I can stand it before I start killing these little monsters! How they've lived this long without their parents killing them, I haven't a clue!" she snapped.

"I swear, Albert! How long does it take to find a slip of paper and build an army of followers?!" she seethed.

"I have looked everywhere, Dolores, EVERYWHERE! I'm telling you, there's no documents anywhere showing he was named by the Dark Lord!" Runcorn growled.

"Well, we both know he was, we just have to find someone else to support the claim, then." She stated.

"I was there, in the boy's camp, the day he was named. The only other person near them was Lucius Malfoy and he is the boy's uncle. He was too happy to be rid of the first Dark Lord to help us promote a second one, especially seeing as the second one would be that same nephew." Runcorn explained.

"Well, then. We'll just have to give the boy a reason to cooperate with us. There is a bridal shower happening tonight. He will be out of the castle, at a party thrown by his friends. Send me five of your best fighters. Have them meet me at the Hogwarts gate. I'll let them in and they can grab the girl. Once we have her in custody and secreted away, we'll have control of him. He'll do anything to insure her safety. I'm sure he'll be willing to part with that all important memory to see his little mudblood back safe and sound." She sneered.

Filch gasped and jerked away from the door. 'He had to find Miss Granger and warn her!' He hurried to the door but before he could leave, "Petrificus Totalus! Well, what have we here? A spy, are we, Argus? No wonder you've been so uncooperative this year. Shame on you, taking up for those little beasts over me. I'm afraid I can't let you leave, now. You might tell all to Miss Granger. Can't have you upsetting the apple cart now." She floated him back into her room and tied him to a chair. Mrs. Norris hissed angrily at her, swiping at her with a paw. "That's enough out of you, too, you little beast!" with those words, she reared back and kicked Mrs. Norris into the far wall. Filch, still frozen, could only watch and pray as his beloved cat lay, unmoving, across the room.

She walked out and headed out of the castle. Once she was in the courtyard, she walked down to the gate and opened it. Five hooded figures came out of the wooded area closest to the gate. They crossed into the castle grounds and followed her back to the castle. Clearly, Umbridge was taking advantage of the fact that classes were still in session with no students roaming the halls. She led the hooded men down to her classroom and locked the door behind them. Now, to wait for both parties to start.

Unaware of the danger now lurking below them, the students finished their last classes and dispersed. The older students began preparing for the bridal shower or bachelor party. The younger students went to the library to study or research homework or projects. Others went outside to enjoy the weather. Yet others went straight on to their common rooms. It was rapidly becoming customary for the seventh and eighth year students to congregate in the Head Girl and Boy rooms.

The boys dressed in their finest and went down the hall to tell the girls good night since it would, no doubt, be the early hours of the morning before they came staggering in. The girls laughed as they hugged and kissed them, then sent them on their way.

The boys clattered down the stairs and streamed out the door, down the path, on their way to Hogsmeade. The girls came down and headed into the Great Hall. The younger students were all heading either upstairs or downstairs to their common rooms. As it grew quieter in the hallway, the Family Planning door opened. Dolores Umbridge stuck her head out and looked both ways. She motioned behind her and the five hooded men came out. She led the way up to the Main Entrance and pointed at the doors to the Great Hall. She whispered their instructions and made them wait in the shadows another thirty minutes. Then she headed down to her classroom to await their return.

In Umbridge's private quarters, Filch was trying his best to get free from the chair. He was quietly sobbing as he looked over, ever so often, at Mrs. Norris, who still hadn't moved. He was sure his beloved cat was dead and he couldn't bear the thought of her dying in pain. As he finally felt a little bit of give in the spell that held him to the seat, he looked over again. To his stunned surprise, Mrs. Norris was gone! He closed his eyes and hoped, if she was able to move around, that she might be able to get someone to follow her down here.

Just then, Umbridge walked back in. "Good evening, Argus. I'm sorry about holding you here but I can't let you go, you see? You'd ruin all my plans. I can't have you running to Minerva or Miss Granger and blabbing everything you heard earlier, no, that just wouldn't do. Don't worry. You'll soon have some company." She giggled and walked back into her classroom. Filch slumped in the chair. He felt like he'd failed the school and, most importantly, he'd failed Miss Granger. After she'd been trying to help him, too! Right now, he could only wait and see if Mrs. Norris succeeded in finding help. He was glad Dolores hadn't noticed the cat was no longer there.

Umbridge sat down behind her desk as she waited for the men to return with Miss Granger. 'She couldn't wait to oust that meddling Kingsley Shackebolt and assume her rightful position as Minister of Magic. That bratty, little Snatcher WOULD give them the memory they needed or she'd personally kill the mudblood and her unborn brat. That would teach him not to cross her!'

The girls had all began piling presents in front of Hermione and Victoria. When the doors opened once again, they didn't look around, assuming it was either another invitee or a teacher, checking on the participants. It proved to be a huge mistake.

"Hermione Granger, come with us and none of your friends will be hurt." A raspy voice said. Hermione jerked around in shock. Five men stood there. They were dressed in black, hooded and masked. Some of the other girls were gasping in fear.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Hermione aimed her wand at them. They all laughed.

"Who does it look like we are, mudblood? There is a new Dark Lord and we have begun to rise, once again." He sneered.

Hermione was trembling but determined to protect her friends. Victoria stood beside her, wand out also. "You need to leave, NOW." Victoria stated.

"We will leave but not without Miss Granger, muddy. You don't listen very well, do you? Is that a stupid Gryffindor trait or just pure stupidity on your on part?" he snapped, angry that he was being ignored by the little bints.

"We aren't going anywhere with you! In case you didn't notice, we are in the middle of the school and you need to leave!" Vicky sassed him.

The men pulled their wands and aimed them, only just noticing the rest of the girls now had THEIR wands out. The leader cursed. This wasn't going as planned, not at all! They were just SUPPOSED to grab mudblood Granger and get back to their boss, not fight a bunch of schoolgirls! This was quickly turning into a disaster!

Hermione moved forward. "Why only me? What is it about me that you only require ME?" she asked curiously.

"You are the key, muddy, the key to our return to greatness! You control him, he controls us, the world is happy, do you not see? All we need is for you to come with us. We will not hurt you, or your friends, simply come with us!" he tried to persuade her.

"Oh, I'm sure! I'm not going anywhere! TURN. AROUND. AND. LEAVE. NOW!" she gritted angrily. He growled and fling disarming curse her way. She threw a shield and it deflected the curse. Now all of his men were throwing curses at the girls. All the girls ducked behind the tables and flung their own curses. Hermione and Victoria unconsciously copied Mikey and Alex, standing back to back as they battled the men. They were so engrossed in the fight, they neither saw nor felt their rings grow warm and light up.

Down in Hogsmeade, the boys were doing shots as they celebrated the final two nights the Snatchers would be single. Between Mikey and Alex, they had already went through two bottles of Ogden's Best. Both boys were getting rowdy, a sure sign they were almost smashed. Halfway through the third bottle, the rings on their hands warmed up and glowed.

"Mikey!" Alex straightened, staring at his hand.

"Something's going on!" Mikey snapped.

The other boys huddled around them. Each boy had four hands attached to their arms. They activated their rings and popped out of sight. The girls and the hooded men were both startled when the ten boys popped into sight and joined the fight. The leader of the men cursed again. 'Damn it, they weren't SUPPOSED to fight HIM! Why did he have to show up?! How had he even known to show up?!' There was no hope for it, he had to get his men out of here with being captured, she had strongly stressed what would happen if they were captured!

He braced himself, then threw a Crucio at the young Snatcher leader. Mikey screamed and went down, arching his back and twisting in agony! Then the leader used a Flipendo curse to throw him onto a table full of presents. Then he Crucioed him again. Mike was in such pain, he had actually dropped his wand. As the man let up for just a second, he took advantage of the lull. He snatched up a cast iron skillet and yelled angrily, "I HATE BEING CRUCIOED!" as he slung the skillet as hard as he could. The five men all watched, amazed, as the skillet flew through the air and bounced soundly right off of their leader's head. He went down, ears ringing and seeing stars. The fight was over in another few minutes. The five men were knocked out and tied up.

"Hermione!" Miley rolled unsteadily off the table as she ran to him. They hugged tightly, as if they were never going to let each other go. All the other boys went to their girls to check them over and make sure they weren't injured in any way.

"Oi, Mikey! Nice work with that skillet, man!" Marcus yelled. He wouldn't soon forget that perfect toss.

"Granger, mark down in your notes, skillets all around. We'll have a skillet throwing contest in a year or two." Miley grinned mischievously as everyone teased him about his 'hidden' skillet tossing skills.


	32. Arrests

Arrests

As the seventh and eighth years continued to laugh and joke after the fight, a small cat limped into the room. She slipped under a table and crept closer, her eyes locked on the bushy haired girl. The girl was nice to her master and had petted her without being rough with her. Maybe the girl could help her master now.

As Hermione continued to hug Mikey tightly, she heard a small, "Meow." She looked around and saw Mrs Norris. The cat was limping and looking up at her. "Mrs. Norris, what happened? Why are you limping?" she took out her wand and cast a diagnostic on the cat. From where she'd been kicked into the wall, her front leg was broken as well as a couple of her little ribs. Hermione cast a healing spell on her, then lifted her gently into her arms.

"Mrs. Norris, where is Mr. Filch? Is he hurt?" she didn't think twice about the fact that she was talking to a cat. Crookshanks had his way of communicating with her, why not Mrs. Norris?

The cat mowed once more and looked back the way she'd came in. "Mikey, there's something going on. You never see Mrs. Norris without Mr. Filch. I'm worried about him. He's been trying to help me out with that woman. Mrs. Norris just had a broken leg and ribs. Mr. Filch wouldn't hurt her for anything in the world!" she looked at him worriedly.

Mikey turned his attention to the five tied up men. "You have answers. I want them, now." He said in a deadly tone of voice. He crouched down in front of the leader. Just before he could begin questioning him, Fenrir walked in with the rest of their small group. He looked around and grinned a wicked grin. Hermione shivered, thankful that grin wasn't aimed at her.

"Greyback, just in time." Fen's attention was instantly centered on Mikey. The last time the boy had called him by his last name had been when he lost his memories. This time, though, he was fully aware of him. Then he saw the bound men behind him and became even more alert. He wandered over, his nails unconsciously growing into claws. The rest of the pups followed, right on his heels.

"See that werewolf? He's my Alpha, pretty much my werewolf father, you could say. He's been yearning for grandchildren for a very, very long time. Do you realize," Mikey snarled menacingly, "you almost killed the very grandchildren he's been waiting so very long for? That girl," he pointed at Hermione, "that one," this time, Vicky, "and that one." The last girl he pointed at was Lavender. "Those three girls, who YOU and your men were just firing curses at, those three girls are his daughters in law. They are all THREE pregnant with his grandbabies. You almost killed THREE of FENRIR GREYBACK'S grandchildren. Do you realize the penalty for what you have done? He is fully within his rights to demand your life! You used the Crucio curse on me! I am fully within MY rights to end your sorry arse, right here, right now!" By now, Mikey was right in the man's face, growling angrily at him. The man was too terrified to even squeak out an answer. Fenrir, crouching behind him, was also growling angrily, his eyes glowing amber and burning for vengeance.

"It was her, she sent for us, she told us it would be a pie job, just come in, get the girl and leave! Please, you have to believe me!" he yelled fearfully. Alex walked over. "Who was it? Tell us her name, we want to know everything!" he let the man see his elongated incisors. The man started blubbering. "Umbridge, Dolores Umbridge, she's downstairs right now, waiting for us to bring the girl to her. She didn't say why she needed her, just for us to grab her and bring her down there!"

Mikey backed away from the man. His plan had worked. Fen and Alex had both played their parts brilliantly. Fen stood and came over to check the condition of his daughters, to assure himself that they were unscathed. He pulled the three of them into a gentle embrace. They, in turn, hugged him tightly as they assured him they were fine.

"I think we need to pay Umbridge a little visit, yeah, Fen?" Mikey asked. Fenrir nodded solemnly. He pulled Hermione a short distance away. "Hey, beautiful, you still got that little beaded bag you like to carry around?" Hermione nodded, puzzled. "You still keep Polyjuice Potion in there?" her eyes widened and she smiled. She pulled the bag out and stuck her arm down in it. She came back up with a large bottle filled to the rim with Polyjuice Potion. "Is there enough there for five doses?" Hermione checked the levels, calculated the amount for five doses and nodded again. He confiscated five goblets on the table and told her to prepare five doses for him. Then he faced the other boys.

"This was the last straw! Umbridge is going down! Me and Alex are going down there. We need three more people." He looked at the other boys. Harry and Seamus immediately jumped forward. "Potter, Finnegan. One more." To everyone's surprise, Marcus Flint stepped forward.

"Marcus? What are you doing?" Angelina asked, looking confused. Marcus walked back to her and held her tightly against him. "Angel, I know you too well. You were likely right behind Granger and Samms, fighting like hell. They could have caused you to lose the baby. I would have hated it but it wouldn't have been that bad. We can always have another kid. But if they'd caused you to lose this one, it would have broken your heart and THAT would have killed me. I got to do this, sweetie, for you and the baby." He whispered into her ear. Angelina looked at him, teary eyed. "Be careful, Marcus Flint. Come back to me safely or I'll never forgive you." He smiled and kissed her.

The five boys walked over to the bound men. They all plucked one hair, then went to the table where Hermione had the Polyjuice Potion ready to go. They added the hair, then all five downed the Potion. "All right, its time. You ready, Granger?" Hermione nodded. The 'leader' crouched down and spoke to the cat. "Ok, Mrs. Norris. Lead us to Mr. Filch."

The rest of the boys stood guard over the prisoners. Fen and the other pups followed the five hooded figures and Hermione. The cat ran nimbly down the stairs and came to a halt outside Umbridge's classroom. She crouched down and hissed angrily toward the door. "You stay out here, Mrs. Norris. We'll get him back." The man knocked on the door and entered, pushing Hermione ahead of him. Umbridge was sitting at her desk. She smiled smugly as she saw Hermione brought before her. "Well, this is better than I hoped. Now, we can proceed, Miss Granger. Have you her wand?" the wand was handed over. "Now then, Miss Granger. You are a Muggleborn. You failed to register with the Ministry of Magic. Therefore, we will have your trial here and now. This is the wand you have been using, yes?"

"Yes, that is my wand." Hermione answered.

"Oh, no, my dear, this is NOT your wand. Whose wand is this? Which witch or wizard did you steal this wand from?" Umbridge snapped.

"The wand chose ME. I've had the wand since I was eleven! It chose me!" Hermione snapped back.

"Wrong, Miss Granger! Wands only choose a witch or a wizard, not muggles." Umbridge's eyes narrowed.

"IT. CHOSE. ME!" Hermione hotly insisted. The hooded figures stood around the desk in a semi-circle. "You all may take a seat. This will take a while. We have to wait for him to be back in the castle." Now she looked back at Hermione. "Miss Granger, muggleborns are an abomination of the Wizarding world. Why do you insist on torturing yourself? Nobody will ever listen to anything you have to say. They could care less if you simply,,,, left." Umbridge shrugged. "Muggleborns like you are only good for one thing." Her eyes dropped to Hermione's stomach. "And THAT is not it! Should I allow my men to SHOW you the only thing Muggleborns are good for?" she arched an eyebrow at Hermione. Willing herself to calm down, Hermione stood calmly in front of Umbridge's desk. She met the woman's eyes without flinching. "Mikey will not be pleased with this. He'll come for me, you'll see."

"Why, my dear, I'm counting on it. I have important business I need to discuss with him. You are nothing but leverage." She smiled tightly at Hermione. Hermione tipped her head. "Exactly what business are you hoping to discuss with him?"

"He is a very important young man. About to be even more important. We mustn't let a filthy little mudblood get in his way, right? You and that little abomination have to go, my dear. We can't have you distracting the new Dark Lord from his duties, now, can we? My dear, don't worry. I'll make sure he doesn't make you suffer,,,too much."

"New Dark Lord? Are you barmy? He's not the new Dark Lord! He's just Mikey!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Oh, no! The Dark Lord appointed him as his heir. The heir of Slytherin. The new Dark Lord. All we have to do is find the proof. If we can't find anything, then we'll simply have to take the memory from him. That's where you come in. If he knows you're safe, he'll give us the memory without a fight." Hermione looked at her incredulously. 'The stupid woman actually believed what she was spouting!' she shook her head. "You are completely barmy! You know that, right?!"

"You! Be Quiet! You have no right to speak to me like that, you little MUDBLOOD!" Dolores screeched. Hermione noticed the veins popping up in her forehead with satisfaction.

"Where is Mr. Filch? Why was Mrs. Norris hurt earlier? What did you DO?" she kept talking, just to brass the woman completely off.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I haven't even seen Mr. Filch today." Dolores lied. 'Damn, how did the little chit know about that damn cat!' As if hearing her name, said cat came running into the classroom and ran straight to the door of Umbridge's private quarters. She looked back at Hermione and mowed as she scratched the door. Dolores turned red as Hermione arched a brow at her mockingly.

"Oh dear, Mrs. Norris doesn't seem to agree with you." Hermione almost burst out laughing at the enraged expression on her toad shaped face.

While Dolores and Hermione were arguing, the five men were moving into position, around Dolores. She didn't pay them any attention as she was too busy and riled up, arguing with Hermione. By the time she realized, it was too late. They had her surrounded. About that time, the door popped open and Fenrir came in, all five pups still trailing after him.

"What is this? What are you doing here?" she looked at Fen, contemptuously. Fen walked right up to her desk, leaned over it and snarled angrily at her. She hurriedly pushed away, gasping in fear. Fen smiled in cold satisfaction. Hermione laughed softly as she leaned against Fen, to calm him down.

"I'll ask you again, where is Mr. Filch? You'll have to bring him out eventually. Mrs. Norris has already given us a basic location. Also why was Mrs. Norris injured earlier? What did you DO to her?" Hermione demanded. Umbridge looked at her and sneered. "Like I even need to answer you. I don't answer to STUDENTS!"

"You might not answer to students but you can answer me! Where is the old man? What have you done with him?" Fen snapped at her.

"I don't answer to you, either, Fenrir Greyback! You should still be in Azkaban!" she yelled, then back up further as he growled again. The door opened once more. This time, the people who walked in truly shocked her. It was Minister Shacklebolt, Amelia Thompson, Albert Runcorn, and four Aurors.

"Kingsley, Albert, what are you doing here?" she asked, fearfully.

"Dolores Umbridge, you are under arrest. You conspired to bring anarchy back to our world. You orchestrated an attack against students, planned to turn one of my Aurors into a new dark lord and generally made everyone miserable. Both you and Albert will be detained at Azkaban for your actions against the Wizarding community. Oh, by the way, your ridiculous law will soon be on the way to being repealed."

Dolores looked at Albert, shocked. "What did you DO? You let them find out what we were doing?! How could you? I was going to be the first female Minister of Magic! He would have given me the position for putting him into power! You moron! You ruined everything!" she screamed at him, thereby incriminating herself.

They opened the door to her private quarters and freed Mr. Filch. Mrs. Norris meowed, purred and wound around his ankles, lovingly. He was crying tears of joy and relief at being free and having his beloved cat back.

Kingsley Shacklebolt personally took his statement against Umbridge. Filch repeated everything he'd heard her tell Runcorn, then he told him everything she'd said to him afterwards.

He also told him what she'd done to Mrs. Norris. The more he heard, the angrier he looked, especially her behavior towards the cat. "Seriously, Dolores, an innocent cat? Really?!" he looked around at all the kitten plates, not a kitten was in sight. "They all ran and hid when she kicked Mrs. Norris, Minister Shacklebolt. They haven't come back out yet. She scared them!" Mr. Filch said. "Well, I think we need to relocate them to a good home, then, don't we? To someone who will treat them right and NOT scare them!" Shacklebolt replied. Umbridge gasped, "Not my babies! You can't take my babies from me!" "Dolores, you'll be leaving them behind when you're taken to Azkaban anyway. Once you receive your sentence, there will be no kitten plates!" Umbridge looked absolutely horrified as he told her that.

Right on time, the Polyjuice Potion wore off. She gaped as Mikey, Alex, Marcus, Harry and Seamus were revealed. "But, but,, how? How did they find out? How did they get here so fast?" she yelled. They all sneered at her.

"What's the matter, Dolores? Angry that you didn't get your way?" Mikey mocked her.

"Why do you not want to fulfill your destiny? You were intended as the next Dark Lord! Weall heard him tell you!" she screamed.

"First, I do NOT want to be the next Dark Lord! Second, he didn't appoint me the next Dark Lord! He had no heirs to inherit his MONEY, you blubbering idiot, so he left it to me! If you wanted to find ANY kind of documentation of him naming me ANYTHING, you should have GONE to Gringotts. They have all the paperwork you need!" he laughed. "Third, I may have been Imperioed to hell and back those last days but I fucking know who was and was NOT in my camp! You weren't there and neither was he, which begs the question? How did you come to the conclusion that he named me a Dark Lord?!" he was seriously interested to hear this!

Umbridge glared as she attempted to figure out how to protect her source of information. Before she knew it, she was levitated into the air by her heel. Then she found herself surou died by Fen and the younger pups, all growling and looking hungry.

"There was a girl. One of the boys, who worked for you, had a girl there with him! She was the one who told me about the Dark Lord naming you!" she squealed as one of the pups got too close and brushed against her.

"There was NOBODY near us, except Lucius Malfoy!" he snarled at her. "You fell for a trick! Is that why you dropped the Muggleborn Registration Committee? Is that when you dragged up this ridiculous law?"

'You wouldn't have your bride if not for that ridiculous law, Mr. Scabior!" she simpered.

"Oh, make no mistake, Dolores, I marked Hermione Granger as MINE long before you came up with that stupid law. Even if Potter hadn't won, she would still be mine. She'll be mine until the day one of us dies! Your stupid law just helped me claim her faster! For THAT, I sincerely thank you, Dolores." Mikey smirked at her. Dolores looked like she'd bitten into a lemon. She had nothing else to say.

Shortly afterwards, Kingsley, Amelia and the Aurors left, taking Umbridge and Runcorn with them. Harry, Alex, Seamus and Marcus left to go back to their brides. After thanking them yet again for saving him and Mrs. Norris, Mr. Filch shambled off to his own quarters. Fen and the pups headed back to the Great Hall to have a quick dinner before Ron ate all the food.

Hermione suddenly found herself alone with Mikey, who had a very predatory look in his eye. She noticed he had his Snatcher clothes on. She wasn't sure why she hadn't realized before exactly what he was wearing.

"When did you get your clothes back?" she attempted to distract him. He backed her up to one of the tables and lifted her on top of it. She gasped and leaned back on her hands.

"They were at the foot of my bed, the first night. The headmistress told me and Alex we could wear them during the weekends." He ducked his face into her hair, breathing deeply.

"You know, its bad luck to see the bride the day before the wedding." She tried again.

"The wedding is Sunday. I have the rest of the night and all day tomorrow to enjoy you, darling, and don't believe I won't." he chuckled at her attempts to distract him. He laid her down on the table and climbed up beside her. She put her arms around him and pulled him close. Right before they lost themselves in each other's arms, he waved his wand and locked the door.


	33. The Interval

The interval

Harry, Alex, Seamus and Marcus walked through the doors of the Great Hall. They heard squeals as Ginny, Vicky, Lavender and Angelina ran to greet them. Kingsley and Amelia were there, collecting the five men who had attacked the bridal shower. They had called in three additional Aurors who had been stationed in Hogsmeade. Runcorn and Umbridge, after arguing from her classroom all the way to the Great Hall, had both been placed under Silencing spells and were glaring angrily at each other.

After rejoining the group, they were asked where Hermione and Mikey were. Alex shook his head. "Don't worry about them, we'll not be seeing them until tomorrow evening, if then. Mikey won't let this opportunity pass him up!"

"I don't blame him, I'd take advantage of it, too! Between Quidditch and her Head Girl duties, they'll not have too much alone time for the rest of the year. That's not counting after she has the baby. Which, if I'm remembering right, will only be another couple of months, yeah?" Harry said.

"Yeah, Hermione is figuring late December, early January. So either they will leave this semester and come back with a baby or they will come back and HAVE a baby. Either way, they are going to be the first parents of our year." Vicky replied. "Hermione is really looking forward to having the baby. She can't wait to see who he takes after. Mikey's elf, Peach, has already told her it's a boy. She's so excited!"

Alex pulled Vicky closer and whispered into her ear. "Oi, I think we have some unfinished business in the Room of Requirement, don't we? How about we slip out in a minute? You can show me your tattoo again. I seem to have forgotten what my handiwork looks like." Vicky giggled and pushed at him, kissing his cheek. But she soon made an excuse that she'd forgotten to bring one last item to the party. It was in the Gryffindor common room. Alex insisted on accompanying her 'never know when someone might try to attack her', looking pointedly at the men Umbridge had let in. As they walked out, the other couples laughed.

"And there goes our other weekend couple. Frankly, it won't surprise me a bit if we don't see those two until Saturday night or Sunday morning." Marcus said.

Seamus and Lavender had joined Greyback and the other kids for a late meal. Fenrir checked Lavender again to make sure she was really okay. He knew she was nervous and Seamus was scared to death about her pregnancy. She had conceived during the last month's full moon week and Fen knew that meant her baby would be born already able to transform. He wondered when Alex and Mikey's children had been conceived. If either of them had been in the full moon week, their babies would be born already able to transform as well. Maybe he should ask them or let them know what to expect, at least. The babies wouldn't actually start transforming until after their third birthday but they wouldn't have to be bitten. As natural born weres, the urge to transform would already be there. All they would need was to have their parents there to coax them through the process. He made a mental note to himself to gather his expectant parents together for a special class, just on their children and what to expect from them.

Marcus sat down on the bench, pulling Angelina down with him. "So my mother wants us to get married during the Christmas holiday. Not on but either a couple days before or after. She wants us to send her a list of our friends so she'll know how many and who to invite. She was also wondering if we wanted to have any of them in the wedding ceremony with us."

Angelina bit her lip. "I'd like to have Hermione as my maid of honor and Ginny, Lavender and Victoria as my bridesmaids. I've already asked them and they agreed."

"Good," Marcus smiled at her, "then Mikey can be my best man. Harry, Seamus and Alex can be my groomsmen. I already told them to be ready. This way, if I get cold feet, they can talk me down off the ledge."

"I'd like to invite the rest of them as guests, if that's all right." Angelina hesitantly told him.

"Of course, you can. It's not mother's wedding, darling, it's ours. We get to invite whoever we want. I can't wait to introduce you to mother. She'll enjoy meeting you. I think you two will get along great." Marcus smoothed a strand of hair behind Angelina's ear, noticing as she shivered. She threw herself at him and hugged him fiercely. "I'm so glad you came back safe. I was worried the whole time you were gone." She ran her fingers into his thick black hair, tugging it gently. She watched him half close his eyes. She smiled secretively. Now she knew something to try the next time they were alone together.

Oliver and Blaise watched enviously as Marcus sweet-talked Angelina. They suddenly wished their witches were as willing to compromise as she was. They KNEW Marcus was or used to be as chauvinistic as them. Either he was hiding it until after he had Angelina bound to him or he really had been affected by the war, more than they knew.

"Will I be allowed to work? Or will I be housebound?" asked Angelina, defiantly, her eyes flashing at him.

"Depends on what kind of work. I would PREFER that you not have a terribly dangerous job but you can work, if you want to. I won't forbid it." He replied, secretly amused but with no visible expression on his face.

"I've been considering an offer from the Holyhead Harpies, Alicia and Katie both play for them as well. Ginny has been also extended an offer from them as soon as she's out of Hogwarts and she's wanting to accept it." She revealed.

"I don't mind but how long will you be able to play before the baby gets here?" he wondered.

"I'll let them know I'm expecting. They'll put me on the reserve bench until after I have the baby and have a doctor's clearance to return to work. I expect I'll have to wait until the baby goes to daycare before I even think about going back to work." She sighed.

He thought very carefully before he spoke again. He knew Quidditch meant as much to her as it did to him. "Would you object to nanny elves? My mother has offered us the pair of elves who raised me as a wedding gift. I haven't gotten back to her yet. I wanted to see how you felt before I said anything. They could care for the babies while we're playing. They're even used to traveling with babies if we wanted to take them on the road with us. That way, you wouldn't have to miss too much time out of the season."

She was staring at him, open mouthed. "You seriously would do that? You wouldn't want me tied down for years, waiting for them to get old enough for daycare?"

"No. You love Quidditch as much as I do. I know how much I hate missing games when I'm injured and how much I missed it while the war was going on. It was probably much worse for you. They closed the league for a while, didn't they?" Marcus looked down and unconsciously rubbed his left arm. He looked so downcast that Angelina couldn't bring herself to scold him over taking the Dark Mark during the war. Like Malfoy, he'd probably not had too much of a choice in the matter.

"We can take the elves, if you really don't mind me working as well. I do love playing and we can raise a couple of little Quidditch players." She joked, trying to tease him back into a smile. She found, much to her surprise, that she loved it when he smiled. She watched happily as that little lopsided grin came back to his face. They shared a quiet laugh as he laid his hand on her belly.

Harry was talking to Ron, Oliver and Draco. Blaise, Gregory and Aidan were listening to them. The rest of the girls were gathered around Ginny. "Well, Hermione and Victoria are missing in action, Lavender is hanging out with her new dad, I have a feeling that Angelina will be disappearing soon. So it's up to us to get everything planned for tomorrow. We need to make a group trip into Hogsmeade. All the families are going to be there, waiting to meet new daughters and sons. We need to plan how we're going to get our missing girls included, too." Ginny's eyes were gleaming with determination. Quite a few of the families were already familiar with their future children as most of them ran in the same society but she knew the Scabiors and McKeons hadn't had a chance to meet either Hermione or Victoria as both were Muggleborn. Mikey's parents were now slightly familiar with Hermione. Alex had introduced Victoria to his parents the first night after the pairings were announced. But the rest of their families were still waiting to meet them.

"We can remind them of the rehearsal dinner tomorrow night. Didn't Hermione say her mum told her they needed to do a run through of the ceremony tomorrow morning, anyway? It's imperative that they be there. We can't have a rehearsal without the brides or the grooms, right? So they'll have to resurface tomorrow morning." Parvati was the one who, matter of factly, pointed out the way to retrieve Hermione and Victoria.

"That's right, thank you for reminding me, Parvati! All right, so that's taken care of. Are there any last minute dress changes we need to make?" Ginny started a to-do list for the next day. "We'll have to drag Hermione to the dress shop for her final fitting, I swear, that girl HATES to shop! We'll need to get Lavender's dress adjusted as well. The families are going to be divided, half at the Hogs Head and half at the Three Broomsticks. We'll need to see which families are where so we'll know how the divide our groups. I know mum and dad are the Three Broomsticks, I'm THINKING the Malfoys are the Three Broomsticks. Parvati?"

"Mum and dad are also at the Three Broomsticks. Pansy, Millie, do you know where your parents will be?" she looked at the two Slytherin girls.

"My parents will be at the Hogs Head." Millicent declared. "Aidan has already said his parents are there as well."

""My mum will be at the Three Broomsticks." Pansy told them. Her father had died in the Battle, as had her two older brothers. Now it was just her mum, and two older sisters. They hadn't been subject to the marriage law as they were both already married.

"My dad is at the Three Broomsticks and Gregory's parents are at the Hogs Head. We're going to stop by for my dad, then go on to the Hogs Head." Luna told them. Ginny jotted that down in her notes.

"Lavender's parents won't be present but Fenrir is here and he's considering going to get Mary, for her. Seamus said his mum will be here at the Three Broomsticks." Ginny was quiet for a moment, thinking of how much Lavender had cried the first couple of nights back, missing her parents.

"I think that's it for now. If any of you think of anything, let me know and we'll get it on the list." Ginny rolled up the list and tucked it away. They turned their attention back to the Minister and the group of Aurors. After the additional Aurors got there, they finished securing the men and prepared to go back to the Ministry.

"Oh, wait!" Ginny exclaimed. "I just remembered!"

She jumped up and ran over. "Minister Shacklebolt!"

Kingsley turned to face her, as did Amelia. Ginny stopped in front of him. "I just wanted to remind you that you and Amelia are invited to Hermione and Victoria's wedding Sunday. You'll be there, yeah?"

Kingsley smiled. "We'll be there. I wouldn't miss the marriage of my favorite two Aurors for nothing in the world." He hugged Ginny, then he got to the business of leading his group outside to the gates. He kept Amelia firmly by his side.

The rest of the evening was spent just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Ginny looked around and chuckled. She nudged Harry and asked him who was missing. She'd called it right. Marcus and Angelina had waited until nobody was paying attention and had, indeed, slipped out.

Ginny spoke to Lavender and was pleased to learn that Fenrir was going, the next morning, to retrieve Mary. They would meet Seamus and his mum in place of Lavender's parents. Of course, Mrs. Finnegan already knew Lavender but she didn't know Fenrir or Mary.

The students who were most dreading the parental meeting the next day, by far, was Ron and Draco. In particular, they were remembering the last time their fathers had met face to face. If that happened again, in front of the Patils, that might spell the end of their marriages before they even happened. To everyone's surprise, Ron and Draco had been seriously making efforts to get along better. They had managed to keep themselves confined to civilized conversation and hadn't fought or antagonized each other since before the school year started. Their last insults had actually been the exchange on the Hogwarts Express. Being as they were getting along so well, they resolved to try and keep their fathers civil, if nothing else.

Harry had no family but Hermione's mother and father had already begun to claim him and would be meeting the Weasleys in place of Harry's family. They were sad about marrying their daughter off but excited about having not only Harry but also Mikey in the family. They had told Hermione in a letter that they weren't losing a daughter, they were just gaining another son. They were also excited about having another daughter soon when Harry and Ginny got married.

Alicia and Katie's parents were both at the Three Broomsticks, as well as Oliver's parents. Blaise's mother was at the Hogs Head. They would drop Oliver and Alicia off at the Three Broomsticks, pick up Katie's parents and go on to meet his mother.

As the evening wound down, everyone began trickling out of the Great Hall and back to their individual common rooms. The presents were collected, divided and sent to either Hermione or Victoria's room. Ginny was already writing the notes that would bring their errant couples back into line tomorrow morning. She couldn't keep the wicked grin off her face at the thought of how angry the separation would make them.

The next morning, there was a pecking at the door of the classroom. The young man and woman, laying on the table covered by his cloak, both groaned. They weren't ready to rejoin their group yet. "Can't we just ignore them?" Mikey pleaded. He raised up and hopped down. Turning to look at her, he leaned over and kissed her as he waved his hand and dressed himself. Walking over to the door, he opened it and received the note. He brought it back to Hermione who had dressed herself by that time. She opened it and read the brief message. Gasping, she grabbed his hand and practically ran to the Great Hall.

"Thank you, Ginny! I had totally forgotten about the rehearsal dinner and everything!" Hermione exclaimed. Just then, the doors burst open again, revealing Vicky and Alex this time. Ginny giggled at them, both boys were clearly pouting at having to give up alone time with their witches.

"Mikey, you and Alex go get ready and meet me and Vicky in the Entrance Hall. Come on, Vicky! We have two hours before we need to be at the Three Broomsticks to meet your parents and mum and dad." Vicky and Hermione ran out to go get ready for the rehearsal. Both boys rolled their eyes and reluctantly left the Great Hall. As soon as they were out of sight, the remaining eighth years burst out laughing.

"Hermione and Victoria are going to have their hands full with those two!" Padma laughed. The doors opened once again as Marcus and Angelina strolled in casually. "What's going on with Mikey and Alex? They didn't look too thrilled just now."

"I don't think they were too happy about not having the girls to themselves today. They have to go rehearse for the ceremony tomorrow." Parvati explained. "Speaking of which, if any of us are in the wedding, that means we need to be getting ready as well! Come on, let's get this show on the road, my dears!"

Marcus grabbed a handful of sausages, divided them into two piles, wrapped them in napkins and handed one to Angelina as he kissed her before hustling out after the rest of the boys. The girls all rushed to the dormitories to collect their outfits and prepare for the trip into Hogsmeade.

Vicky and Hermione hurried down the stairs at the head of the large group heading into the wizarding village. All the boys were already waiting in the Main Entrance. As they paired off, Filch took his usual spot checking off all the students going into town. He surprised them all by hugging Hermione and thanking the boys for ridding the school of Umbridge for the second time. "Don't forget, Mr. Filch. Our wedding is nine am tomorrow morning. You and Mrs. Norris are invited. I wouldn't feel right getting married without the two of you there." Hermione told the old man. He smiled and nodded.

"So, what is this rehearsal? I thought we just stood up tomorrow and said our vows." Mikey was confused.

"That's a wizarding ceremony, sweetie. We'll be doing one of those afterwards. The first ceremony tomorrow is the Muggle ceremony and that one gets rehearsed. Basically, we just get moved around and told where to stand like a bunch of chess pieces. Also our outfits are fitted today to make sure nothing needs any adjustments made." Hermione rolled her eyes. She knew she was having her final fitting today and she wasn't looking forward to it. She had a feeling the dress wasn't going to fit. She'd had trouble fastening the buttons on her skirt. She had resorted to sliding it sideways, buttoning it, then turning it back to the front.

Mikey kept flexing his hands and biting his knuckles. Hermione finally took his hand into hers and hugged his arm. Clearly, he was nervous. Whether it was introducing her to his family or him meeting her parents, she wasn't sure but she thought it was so cute how nervous he was.

"Will they like me?" he suddenly asked. She rubbed his shoulder soothingly.

"Yes, they're looking forward to meeting you, Alex and Victoria. They've heard me yakking about the three of you all summer. Dad will probably take you aside for the 'hurt her and I'll kill you' talk. Mum will burst out crying and want to hug you to bits." Hermione reassured him. She didn't tell him that her parents had mixed feelings about him, due to Ron bad mouthing him every chance he got before they'd returned to school. She just hoped they really took the time to get to know him themselves, instead of relying on her word against Ron's.

They came into sight of the Three Broomsticks. Her parents were outside, watching for her. As they saw her, they waved and watched the young man beside her cautiously. After debating with Alex and the other boys as to what he should wear, he'd finally shrugged and put his Snatcher clothes back on. He'd left off the duster, bandanna, holster belt and her pink scarf. His hair was braided on top but left loose in the back, all of it pulled back off his face except for the red streak. That was braided and hanging down from his temple. He had his wand tucked into his glove for easy access. He seemed to be as wary of them as they were of him. Hermione crossed her fingers and hoped for the best.

"Mum, Dad, this is Scabior, Michael Scabior the third. Mikey, this is my parents, Jean and Todd Granger." She held her breath.

Mikey shook hands with her dad and was surprised as her mum hugged him. He smiled as she patted his shoulders and exclaimed over how skinny he was. "Goodness, Hermione, doesn't that school feed you children, ever? He looks like a stiff wind would blow him over and so do you!" Mikey chuckled at that. "I knew my mum was onto something, she said the same thing. My dad told her she's nuts."

"Mikey! My baby, how's Nana's boy? Oh, look at you! So skinny, you're skin and bones! I'll be having a few words with Mrs. Minerva about that!" Hermione watched as a tall beautiful older witch ran out and threw her arms around Mikey.

"Nana!" Mikey threw his arms around his great grandmother and held tight. Visits with her were few and far between. It was why she always had his favorite dessert on hand. She never knew how long it'd be till the next visit with her beloved little Mikey. She turned her head. "You must be Hermione. I'm Emma, his great grandmother. Pleased to meet you, at last." she turned her attention to Hermione's parents. "You must be her parents?"

"I'm Jean and this is Todd. Pleased to meet you, Mrs-?" Jean paused.

"Oh, darling, Alistair and I were never able to marry. But, for all intents and purposes, I'm Mrs. Scabior. I've been with him for most of my adult life." Emma casually answered her. Michael strolled out, followed by his father. "Alistair, come and meet your future great granddaughter." Alistair obediently walked over to her. He shook hands with Hermione and her parents. All the while, Emma fussed over her boy. Another older woman walked out, arm in arm with a man closely resembling Michael.

She immediately hustled over to Alex and Victoria. Victoria's parents came out next. Alex began introductions all around. Dora walked out and joined Michael, waiting for her turn to meet Hermione. "Well, what do you think? Is she a good match for him?" Michael turned to her. "A very good match, our boy will be happy with her." Dora smiled. "Good. I can stop worrying about his future now."

All of the families were now mingling to learn as much as they could about their children and their in-law's. Those in the immediate wedding party slowly walked in the direction of the small church Jean had found.

As predicted, Mikey found himself walking beside his future father in-law. "I've been hearing good things about you,,, and some not so good things about you. Lucky for you, I trust my daughter more than the other source of information. I will say this once, only today, because I can clearly see how much she loves you and how much you appear to love her. Hurt my daughter in any way, make her cry or even the least bit unhappy,,, magical or not, there will be no hole deep enough to hide you,, I will find you and kill you if you ever hurt her or her children,, are we clear, young man?"

"Perfectly clear, sir, I'll do my best to always make her happy. I can't swear we won't argue from time to time. But I'll never intentionally hurt her or our children." Mikey swore. Todd nodded. He liked this young man. He didn't try to hide his faults. Anyone else might have tried to talk their way around the issues but he didn't. "I have a problem with anger management, sir, she's helping me work through it. I tend to bottle my anger up inside. She's teaching me how to talk my anger out." Todd smiled. "Just like her mother did with me," he laughed at the boy's look of surprise. "Yes, I used to have anger management issues myself. Jean almost wouldn't have anything to do with me because of it. It was only after I sat down with her and talked about things that made me angry that she even agreed to go out with me." He patted Mikey's shoulder. "Welcome to the family."

After that talk, Mikey felt like a heavy load had been taken off his shoulders. He was glad he'd somehow managed to say the right things to her dad. He'd secretly been dreading this meeting, only because he was sure they would hate him on sight.

The rehearsal went off without too many problems, the main one being Mikey being struck speechless at the sight of Hermione walking down the aisle. After she was in front of him, he had to be prodded to remember that they were surrounded by family and friends. Else he had been tempted to pick her up, sling her over his shoulder and run away with her. Alex, seeing the glazed look in his eyes, had actually latched onto Mikey's arm to hold him back.

After the dinner was over, the families began sending them back to the school. After their weddings, Mikey would move into the Head Girl's room with Hermione. Alex and Vicky would be the second official couple to take advantage of the married housing, set up at the first of the year. Seamus and Lavender had been set up in the new corridor the day they came back from full moon week. Soon they would be joined by Harry and Ginny, slated to be the next marriage. After them would be Marcus and Angelina. The last wedding of the year was going to be Ron and Parvati and Draco and Padma, another double wedding. None of the rest of them had, as yet, let anyone know when they were getting married.

Author's note: time jumps will occur in the next chapter. I'm not good at describing events, therefore the weddings have already happened and we're going on with their school lives. I'm thinking the next chapter will be the last one but we'll see what my muse has to say about it. I'll be trying to write about some of the other couples but those stories will not be part of this one. Those will be posted to 'till we're not strangers anymore: companion pieces.' After I finish this one, I'll be moving on to finish my next story 'Chasing the Girl.' I'll also be assessing some of my one shots to see if I'm inspired to add to them. All in all, fun times! Thank you to everyone who followed/favorited this twisted little tale, full acknowledgements will follow the next chapter. Love ya, my peeps!


	34. Weddings, Quidditch and Babies

Weddings, Quidditch and Babies

Some of our couples are getting married, some aren't. We have Quidditch and babies also. Time jumps will occur and this should be the last chapter but we'll see.

October 17th

Their wedding had gone off without a hitch. She and Victoria were so nervous that they went down the aisle arm in arm with each other as well as their dads. She later found out that Mikey had a panic attack and Marcus, Alex and Harry had their hands full, keeping him from running out. It made her feel much better about her own momentary urge to run away. That night, they laughed as they wondered why they'd been so scared in the first place. As promised, Mikey had made reservations at the best hotel in London and they had stayed a full two weeks. Alex had whisked Victoria off to Italy, where she'd always wanted to go.

October 31st

They came back in time to attend the wedding of Harry and Ginny. To everyone's surprise, Harry and Ginny had planned a Halloween party in the Room of Requirement and invited a Ministry official who married them right then and there. Ginny had come up with that idea, knowing that so many weddings would put a heavy burden on her parents. Harry spirited Ginny off to Spain for a quiet honeymoon out of the public eye.

Next would be Marcus and Angelina. He intended to take her to France for their honeymoon. They were all looking forward to Christmas break. That's when they would get married.

December 23rd

They were both getting the last minute jitters. They were all at Flint Manor. It had been decided that they would marry two days before Christmas. Marcus and the boys were gathered around a table, talking Quidditch. Marcus suddenly leaned down and cupped his face in his hands.

"What the bloody hell am I doing? I'm not ready to be a husband, a father! What the hell?! She needs someone more reliable than me, damn, I'm going to fuck this whole thing up! She needs someone she really loves, not someone she was forced to marry!" he muttered frantically. The others glanced at each other.

"Marcus, listen, I said the same thing, remember? I was freaking out, thinking I wasn't going to be there for Hermione. Who was it that talked me down off the ledge, hmmm? Pretty sure that was you, mate! You got me calmed down and ready to go. Now it's your turn. Angelina is counting on you, you can do this, man." Mikey told him. Marcus took a couple of deep breaths and nodded. "You're right, I can do this. I'm ready to take care of her. That's my girl, I can't let her down. I love her too much." Mikey clapped him on the shoulder. "There's the Marcus I know. You can do this, man! You'll be great tomorrow."

Meanwhile, upstairs in her bedroom, Angelina was having a panic attack of her own. "Gods, what am I doing, Hermione?! He's a bloody Slytherin! How can I ever trust anything he says or does?! Bloody hell, what have I let myself in for?!" Hermione forced her to sit down and breathe. "Angelina, you love him! You've loved him for years, if what Katie said was right! Now you get to make him all yours! If he gets too rowdy, just use the iron skillet and pop him upside the head! Or at least threaten him enough to make him think you will." Hermione laughed. Angelina pictured his face, thinking he was about to be beaten with an iron skillet, and burst out laughing with her. The other girls hung back, letting Hermione's cool head take care of the situation.

Angelina felt much better, she'd needed to laugh. Now that she was calmer, she could concentrate on preparing to be a bride the next day. "Hermione, I know this is an unusual request, but would you walk with me and dad tomorrow? Instead of in front of us? I'd feel so much better, I know I'd be calmer. Would you?"

"Of course, Angelina, I'd be glad to. It helped me and Vicky when we were walking down the aisle, too." Hermione told her. Vicky was nodding in agreement. Angelina smiled in relief. Even though she was calmer, she still had jitters about tomorrow. The girls settled down for the night. Tomorrow was a big day.

The next day, the girls were running in and out, all over the place. Hermione stayed right with Angelina as she got ready. Her hair and makeup was complete and it was time for the dress. Aside from her own, it was quite possibly the most beautiful dress Hermione had ever seen. Finally Angelina was ready and her father was just outside, worrying himself sick over having a Slytherin son-in-law. Though he'd met Marcus and the boy SEEMED decent, it didn't mean he wasn't just putting up a front for everyone. After all, his daughter was walking down the aisle pregnant. Though they hadn't told their parents about the baby yet, he had recognized that special glow about her and he knew her mother and the boy's mother had, too. He'd already threatened the boy with death if anything ever happened to his baby girl and he meant it.

Hermione opened the door and led Angelina out. He knew tears had just popped into his eyes because Angelina looked as though she was also on the verge of tears. He offered his arm and led them down the stairs. He expected the other girl to go on but, instead, she linked arms with Angelina. Suddenly he realized she was there to help him keep Angelina calm. They walked out and followed the path to the gazebo. Everyone turned as they started down the aisle.

Marcus heard the gasps and turned around. He was suddenly glad Mikey was right beside him. He felt his legs giving out underneath him. Mikey grabbed his arm and propped him up until his legs held him up again. "Bloody hell! Mikey, she's, gods, she's beautiful! Damn it all, man! How the bloody hell did I get so lucky?"

Mikey smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. "I ask myself the same thing every day. How the devil did I get so lucky and land Hermione?" they watched their beautiful witches walk down the aisle to them.

"Angelina, look at Marcus! He almost dropped, Mikey had to catch him, did you see?" Hermione giggled quietly to her. Angelina cupped her mouth, chuckling. "I saw it all. Look at him, Hermione! Gods, he's so gorgeous! How did I get this lucky?" Hermione smiled. 'Luck had nothing to do with it. This was destiny, she truly believed that.'

Mr. Johnson was also watching Marcus. The boy looked totally love-struck. He breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly felt much better, handing her over to this young man. His wife, also watching Marcus AND Angelina, closed her eyes and let out a few tears. 'Her baby was going into a true love match.' She'd been so worried about it, ever since that senseless law had passed. Mrs. Flint was pleased to see that the children obviously had strong feelings for one another. She wouldn't call it love just yet but it was getting there.

After the wedding, they went into the ballroom for the reception. Everyone laughed at the toasts, stuffed themselves and danced the night away. After they cut the cake, danced the first dance and made their rounds among the guests, Marcus and Angelina slipped out and apparated away to France.

It was a couple days after the Flint wedding. Hermione was in her eighth month and it was getting harder and harder to get around. "Merry Christmas, darling. How's our little pup this morning? Did he let you get any rest at all last night?" Mikey rubbed his hand gently over her belly. Hermione laughed sleepily. "Not much. I'm pretty sure he was playing Quidditch all night, chasing the Quaffle, just like his dad." Mikey lowered his face against her stomach. "Hey, boy, easy in there. Mum needs her strength, baby boy." They laughed together. They laid there, relaxing.

"Do you think we'll be good parents?" Hermione asked. Everyone told her they were going to be natural parents but she was still scared. Fenrir had told them he had a special class planned for the first of the year, just for the expectant parents in the group. She knew that meant ONLY her and Mikey, Alex and Victoria and Seamus and Lavender. "What do you think the class is going to be about?"

Mikey shook his head. Fenrir hadn't let any details slip. He HAD asked Mikey what phase the moon had been in when he first slept with Hermione. As it happened, he had also asked Alex the same question. "I don't know. He asked me about moon phases but who knows why he wants to know. We'll be good parents. We have your parents as role models, my parents, we even have Fen and Mary as role models. We'll be okay, don't you worry about it."

"Hey, got some owls today. An invitation to the Malfoy/Patil/Weasley wedding. Luna and Greg eloped. Pansy and Neville are waiting until after graduation. Neville has been offered an internship with Professor Sprout. He's going to train with her. Pansy is going to have an internship with Professor Flitwick in Charms class. Now that the law has been overturned, Millicent, Katie and Alicia have all broken their weddings off."

"Oh, that's too bad, but still there have been some good matches out of this whole thing. Some good, some surprising but all in all, mostly successful. So I guess that law wasn't as bad as it could have been." Hermione mused. She jumped and yelped. Mikey jerked around. "Is it time?!" he was already jumping up. "No, no." Hermione laughed. "He just flipped over. But he's kicking like crazy. I don't know if we're going to make it to nine months. He seems eager to get out of there!" Mikey relaxed and laid back down. He put his hand back on her belly. He could see his son kicking and moved his hand over to rub the spot. The movement stopped momentarily, as though the baby was surprised. Then he pushed against Mikey's hand. Hermione watched the look of wonder and awe that crossed Mikey's features at the feeling of his son, pushing his hand around on her belly.

December 30th

They were all gathered at Malfoy Manor. It was the last wedding of the year. Pansy and Neville had a post-graduation summer wedding planned before coming back and joining the staff on internships. Frankly, Hermione was surprised that both Ron and Draco were still getting married but they had started out civil and had gotten, not best friends friendly, but they had actually begun to willingly hang out in the same group without starting any ruckus, as would have happened in the past. It said A LOT about the patience of both Parvati and Padma that the boys had even been willing to call a truce and attempt to get along. Hermione was happy. Both her boys were happy and settled down. She had a wonderful husband who, in the words of his friends, worshipped the ground she walked on, she would soon have his baby and she couldn't be more content.

January 2nd

As they came back from the holidays, Hermione and Mikey were getting more jittery by the day. She had experienced a few small contractions the past couple of days. When asked, Mike and Pandora had said it was Braxton-Hicks contractions. They told her to keep track of how often she was experiencing them. Hermione was almost sure that she wasn't going to be waiting too much longer. This baby wanted OUT!

The next day, she and Mikey, Alex and Victoria and Seamus and Lavender all walked to Fen's classroom. The younger students had been excused from this particular class. Fenrir watched his pups and their mates walk in. His eyes lingered worriedly on Hermione. She was so small and slightly built and her baby belly made it almost impossible to move easily. He sighed, he was almost sure she would need a caesarean done to get the baby out. Even though they had said she was only carrying one, he secretly thought there was possibly another one in there. But they were nervous enough about one child, much less more.

"Today, I want to talk about your children. You all know there are two types of Weres. Natural born and wizard born. Natural born is the child born with at least one werewolf parent. Can anyone give me an example?" Fen smiled as Hermione shot her hand into to the air.

"Teddy Lupin, born to a witch and a werewolf." Hermione answered easily.

"That's right. Then we have the wizard born, that would be all of the weres currently in this room. This means all of the unborn children here are going to be considered natural borns. Natural borns don't have to be bitten before they start transforming. They won't actually start transforming until, at least, their third birthday. Some might not even have to worry about the change, because they will never transform. It all depends on moon phases. If they were born a work or more after the full moon or more than two weeks earlier, they have a good chance of not having to transform."

"But, those born in the week of the full moon will more than likely be subject to the change. So depending on which phase of the moon your child was conceived and which phase he's born into, you can get a pretty good idea of whether your child will transform or not. Seamus and Lavender already know their child will start transforming. He or she was conceived full moon week last month. How soon the baby starts transforming will depend on its birth phase. As I said, some can start as soon as their third birthday, others can make it into their late teens or early twenties before they ever transform. Your assignment today is to figure out the moon phase your child was conceived in and a rough estimate of where in the moon phase you think he or she will be born."

He sat back and listened as his children began estimating dates. Seamus and Lavender thought their child would probably be born in another full moon week but hedged their bets by also choosing a week shed of full moon. Victoria told Alex she thought she'd conceived the week after full moon last month and it was a good possibility that their child would be born a week or more after full moon. Hermione already knew when she'd conceived, three weeks ahead of full moon, because it was the only week she and Mikey had before Voldemort ripped their lives apart.

January 5th

It was a cold, snowy, windy day for Quidditch practice but Marcus insisted that, if they were going beat Gryffindor to the Quidditch cup this year, they had to prepare for ALL types of weather, even snow. Bundled up in their warmest, thickest cloaks, reinforced by warming charms, three Gryffindor girls sat in the stands, watching their Slytherin husbands (who were NOT happy campers) try their best to cope with flapping robes, turbulence and runaway Quaffles and Bludgers.

The boys had insisted that it was entirely too cold and snowy for them to be there, especially in their delicate conditions. They quickly realized their mistake when the girls all placed their hands on their hips and gave the boys the evil eye. The girls finally got their way after agreeing to go inside if they got too uncomfortable or cold. Hermione, now in her ninth month and ready to go any day, was the one they were most concerned about. In spite of the fact that she couldn't care less about Quidditch, she was still determined to support Mikey. Therefore, she came to his practices and the games. He was quickly discovering what everyone else had known for years. The girl was almost as stubborn as he was, if not more.

He was going for a goal when they saw the Ravenclaw team down on the ground. Evidently they had booked the field after them. Marcus flew down to see if they wanted to have a real quick scrimmage first. Always willing to rise to the challenge (and kick Slytherin's arse), they agreed on a set time and score. Then both teams went into the air.

As he and Aidan were circling around, they kept an eye on the other Beaters. Mikey was ready to chase the Quaffle but it hadn't been released yet. The Bludgers, on the other hand, were already flying through the air. One whizzed by his head, narrowly missing his temple. At last the Quaffle was released and he went into action. Zipping past the Ravenclaw Chaser, he barely caught the ball in time as he shot away from other player. Aidan was right on his tail, batting Bludgers left and right to keep them away from Mikey. He came up fast, almost too fast. He shot the ball through the hoop and almost fell off his broom.

He heard screaming from several different directions. He threw his head back and cackled out loud, grinning wickedly. He was almost sure he'd heard both Uncle Sev and his parents, which meant they would more like as not, try to put him in detention for that little stunt! The Ravenclaws, seeing as he had no fear of falling, decided it would be best to try and keep the ball away from him as much as possible.

As he began to deliberately stalk the Ravenclaw chaser to, once again, claim the ball, he saw a Bludger from the corner of his eye. It shot past him and, to his utter horror, flew straight towards Hermione. He grabbed Aidan's bat and shot across the field. He flew directly in front of her, so close he was actually able to brace himself on her seat, whacked the Bludger back to the field and yelled across at the Ravenclaw Beater. "OI! Watch where you're hitting that thing! You almost killed my girl! That thing comes this way again and it'll be crammed up your arse, with my boot right behind it, you daft numpty!" the Ravenclaw Beater visibly gulped as he avoided the eyes of his own teammates. The captain decided a one on one talk after practice might help straighten him up!

Mikey turned to look at Hermione. "You ok, sweetie?"

Hermione hid her face as she delighted in his protectiveness. "I'm fine. Thank you." It reminded her of his memory of his third year and Harry's first year. He had switched positions with Aidan and circled underneath Harry until he was sure Harry wasn't going to be bucked off his broom. Mikey pushed off and flew back out of the stands. The scrimmage ended fairly soon after that.

Slytherin came off the pitch, leaving it to Ravenclaw. Marcus and Alex came up to walk their girls out of the stands. Mikey had managed, god knows how, to get Hermione to ride his broom down to the ground. He had to go very slowly and gently but she did allow him to bring her down. Angelina would never have believed it if she hadn't seen it. As they touched down, he helped her gain her feet before releasing her. He turned towards the dressing rooms but before he could take a step, "MICHAEL SCABIOR THE THIRD, YOU STOP, RIGHT THERE, BOY!"

He cringed, knowing exactly what he was going to get. Sure enough, it was Snape who snapped out the dreaded word. "DETENTION, YOUNG MAN! NO FLYING THAT BROOMSTICK FOR A MONTH! YOU WILL ONLY GET IT FOR SCRIMMAGES , PRACTICES AND GAMES!"

"I have a huge stack of dirty cauldrons which need washing! I think the first three nights of next week ought to take care of them!" he grinned evilly at Mikey, knowing how much the boy hated scrubbing the cauldrons, especially since he couldn't use magic to help him clean them. Mikey rolled his eyes but accepted his punishment, knowing it could have been much worse.

Back in the Gryffindor common room, they were regaling the other students who had trouble believing that. Especially the students who had taken flying lessons with Hermione and knew it was one of the few classes she had failed. Hermione rolled her eyes and told them that, yes, she had indeed allowed Mikey to fly her from the stands down to the ground. She reassured them that she wasn't about to start flying on a regular basis, it was just that one time. If he hadn't been so worried about her possibly tripping or falling, he would never have been able to talk her onto the broom.

She had gone to this first practice of the year, knowing she was going to miss the first game of the year. It was going to be Slytherin vs. Ravenclaw and she would be in the infirmary. Mikey's parents were going to be her doctors and they were going to induce her. The baby, from the looks of the ultrasound, was starting to get big enough that she might have trouble delivering him naturally. They were thinking she possibly might have to have a Caesarean if the baby got much bigger.

The next morning, Mikey woke up early. He ran his fingers through his hair and slid out of bed without waking Hermione up. In the bathroom, he splashed water on his face and tipped his head back. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was scared to death about Hermione. 'Dear Merlin, please, please watch over my little beauty, don't let anything happen to her, please!' he silently prayed. He wasn't sure how he was expected to keep his mind on Quidditch with her in the infirmary, trying to have his child.

He went back to the bedroom and found her just waking up. She blinked sleepily and reached up, pulling him back down. He went easily and wrapped his arms around her. "Today's the big day, sweetie. We get to meet our little boy." She was shaking slightly. She was nervous about being in labor without him but she knew he would get there as soon as the game was over. If she knew him right, he'd be racking up the points as quickly as he could, in an effort to get the game over with. She also knew one word from her and he'd gladly ditch the game.

"Are you sure you don't need me there for a while? They have reserve players, you know." She smiled and stroked his face. "Mikey, sweetie, I want you to go play Quidditch. I know you've missed it and I won't be dilated enough to try and deliver for a while, even with being induced." He helped her up and they got dressed. They would eat breakfast and then he was going to walk her to the infirmary. He was already in uniform and had his broom. He was going to stay with her as long as possible or until she and his parents kicked him out.

In the Great Hall, the Slytherin team was in full planning mode when they got there. Marcus and Draco looked up. "Mikey, are you going to be playing? We can use a reserve if you want to stay with her."

"He's playing. I'm planning on him telling me every goal he made later on today." Hermione said firmly. Mikey shrugged, looking sheepish. "She wants me to play, so I'm playing." Marcus and Draco were smiling at them. They were just tucking into breakfast when Professors Scabior showed up. "Mikey, Hermione, how are you doing? Ready for your big day?" Mike sat down beside his son as Pandora sat beside her daughter-in-law.

"I'm nervous about delivering but I think Mikey is even more nervous than me." Hermione confided. Pandora hugged her. "Don't worry about anything. We'll be right there with you."

As they got up to make their way to the infirmary, she noticed that Marcus and Angelina, Alex and Victoria and Seamus and Lavender were all following as well. Once in the infirmary, they allowed Madame Pomfrey to get Hermione changed and into a bed. The doors opened and Fenrir walked in, leading Mary.

Hermione quickly figured out the reason why the other girls were there. Since she had ordered Mikey to play Quidditch, the girls were there to support her until the game was over and he could join her. Tears welled up at the wonderful friends she had. It was an extra special gift because she knew they were all as Quidditch crazy as Mikey.

The boys left for the game and Mike began monitoring her stats. Pandora asked if she wanted to do the inducement right away or wait a while. She decided since she hadn't actually had any more contractions yet, she'd wait awhile. It would also give the game time to be over with and Mikey more time to get here. Angelina, Lavender and Victoria bustled around, making themselves comfortable. Mary came over and sat on the other side of Hermione, also keeping track of her stats. Hermione remembered that Lavender told her Mary was a midwife. Fenrir seated himself beside Mike, talking quietly.

She had brought her textbooks and homework to work on until her labor started. She and the other girls were talking about a potion they were looking forward to making when she felt a stabbing pain in her back. At her gasp, both doctors and the midwife gathered around her. The girls moved back beside Fenrir, out of the way.

She was waiting for the next pain and thought it had just been a fluke. As she was about to go back to studying, the next pain hit. They began talking her through the pain. As it started, she would count down to the time it ended. At first the pains were ten minutes or longer apart, letting them know she wouldn't be fully dilated for a while.

She was still relatively calm for a while after her pains finally started. Her water hadn't broken yet. She had let Pandora and Mary know she didn't want the inducement spell done until that time or at all unless it became clear that she needed it. She was seriously hoping, though, that she would not need it, after all, since her labor had kicked in on its own.

The girls came back over and started gossiping and cracking jokes, doing their best to keep her spirits up. She was so busy talking to them, she didn't notice Mike, Fen, Pandora and Mary move out of sight behind the curtain.

"She's very small, her hips are almost too narrow, if she manages to deliver this baby naturally it'll surprise me. That's not what I'm worried about, though." Mike looked at them seriously. "I think she might have two in there. Fen thinks so as well. Some of her scans lately, I've thought I detected a second heartbeat but it comes and goes. One time it's there, the next it's gone."

Pandora closed her eyes. She knew what that meant. If Mike thought he could hear a second heartbeat coming and going, then Hermione was possibly carrying twins. It was also a possibility that one was alive and the other would be stillborn. She was heartsick at the thought of her son and daughter-in-law facing a possible stillbirth, even with the probability of a living child to go with it. She knew, if Hermione lost a baby, she'd be devastated, even if she also managed to deliver a living child. All they could do, at this point, was hope and pray that she delivered either one fairly large child or two living twins.

They went back around the curtain. Mike didn't want to tell her unless he had to. If she suddenly began experiencing any kind of distress, though, he'd have to tell her. He would then have perform a caesarean on her to remove the baby quickly. He was praying it wouldn't come to that point.

Fen sat on the bed next to Hermione, telling her some of Mikey's antics during the full moon. He managed to keep her distracted enough that she didn't realize it was almost lunchtime. Angelina had opened the large picture window in the infirmary. It faced the Quidditch pitch and, with the help of Harry's omnioculars, she was keeping them updated on the game. According to her, it was a fairly fast paced game. It seemed, to Angelina, that Mikey was scoring points left and right. Of course, she couldn't be sure that it was Mikey but the player she was watching score the most had a red streak of hair, hanging down from his temple. She knew that was one of his most distinct features and he didn't tuck the strand away, even during practices. Hermione smiled through her pain. She'd known exactly what he would do and, sure enough, Mikey was scoring as many points, as fast as he could, pushing for a quick game.

Harry, Ron and Ginny had come to visit for a while. They knew she and Mikey were both petrified about the baby. There wasn't much they could do for Mikey, seeing as he was in the middle of a game but they could come and join in on helping keep Hermione cheered up. Fenrir, knowing how much Hermione's friends meant to her, asked Harry how they first became friends. They proceeded to tell him the story of their first year. They hadn't been friends at first. That came later. It surprised him to know she had actually gotten on their nerves tremendously before the troll in the bathroom. After that was when they actually began considering her a friend. It didn't surprise him to know she'd taken the blame then to protect them from getting in trouble. That seemed to be how she was, in regards to friends.

About two hours after lunchtime, her pains were intensified to the point that Pandora asked if she was ready for the pain reduction spell to be performed. As it happened, she hadn't needed to be induced. Her water had broken right after lunch and she was already half dilated, according to Mike. It looked like it was going to be a fairly fast delivery. She was happy that she hadn't gotten the inducement. It would have caused Mikey to miss the birth. He was still playing but Angelina reported that the score was three hundred to two fifty, in favor of Slytherin. Draco was actively hunting the Snitch. Mikey was still scoring goal after goal. After a particularly intense pain, Hermione found herself wishing she'd never sent him to the Quidditch pitch. "They won! Hermione, they won! Draco caught the Snitch! They're done! He'll be here soon!" Angelina squealed happily. Hermione laughed weakly as she put a triumphant fist into the air.

As soon as Draco caught the blasted Snitch and their victory was announced, Mikey darted off to the infirmary. He had to get to Hermione. He wasn't even worried about still being in his uniform. He performed a quick Scorgify on himself and his clothes. As he soared through the air on his way to the castle, he realized the big window was open. He turned his broom and aimed for the window. Angelina jumped back as he swooped into the room. He tumbled off his broom at the foot of her bed.

He scrambled up and went to the head of the bed. Leaning over, he looked into her eyes. "Hello, beautiful." He kissed her on the forehead and grasped her hands. Hermione was instantly relieved to see him. Now she could concentrate on bringing their baby into the world. Mikey helped her remember her breathing exercises, counting the pains down with her. He climbed in back of her so she could relax against him between pains. He brushed her hair back and willingly offered his hands for her to squeeze as she bore down. When the time came for her to push, he crooked up his legs to give her something to brace against.

"One more push, Hermione! Come on, just one more good push! Get the head out and the body will quickly follow! You're doing so good, sweetie, you're wonderful!" Mike could see a head crowning. He hoped and prayed that it was the living child coming out first. He still thought she possibly had two in there and that one of them was, more than likely, already dead.

Hermione braced against Mikey's knees and screamed as she pushed down. "There's the head, sweetie, come on, push him on out! You're almost there, darling, come on!" Mike encouraged. He was already holding a towel to catch the baby in, Pandora was standing beside him, ready to clean the baby and hand him to Hermione. The slippery little body slid into the towel, he cleaned the baby's mouth and patted the tiny back. Hermione sobbed as an angry little cry rang out, announcing the arrival of her little boy. Before she could ask about him, though, she was once again pushing and screaming. Mike barely had time to grab another towel before another slippery little body slid out. He cleaned the mouth and held his breath. The baby was silent for all of a minute, then she began crying in unison with her brother.

Fenrir was hugging Victoria and Lavender in relief. Both babies were alive and healthy! Mike was almost crying with happiness. Never had he been so pleased to announce the birth of a healthy pair of twins! Hermione was so thrilled she barely even noticed passing the afterbirth. She couldn't wait to hold her babies. Mikey was just thrilled that she made it through the birth. Mary bustled around, getting Hermione into a fresh gown and getting fresh sheets on the bed while Mike and Pandora checked the babies out, took down their stats and bundled them into a pair of soft receiving blankets. They brought them over. Mikey was still behind Hermione, propping her up. They laid the babies into her arms and Mikey wrapped his arms around all three of them. His own little family!

As the happy couple relaxed with the babies, their friends came in to admire them. All of them were surprised that the one baby they'd all anticipated greeting had actually turned into two babies, a boy and a girl. Harry and Ron looked at them closely. Both babies had a full head of curly brown hair. The little boy was already sporting his dad's infamous red streak of hair. They had blue eyes, which Hermione hoped would stay blue like Mikey's. Both babies demonstrated very loudly, as they were pulled away from mum for a brief moment, that they had very healthy lungs inherited from daddy. Hermione giggled as she told Mikey that. She'd always been a quiet baby, rarely crying, according to her parents.

"What are their names?" Harry asked. Hermione looked at Mikey who shrugged. Only then did it occur to them, they'd never thought to discuss baby names! Hermione looked at her son. "Sebastian. Sebastian Scabior." She glanced at Mikey who was smiling approvingly. Mikey looked at his daughter and thought a moment. "Mary Jane. Mary Jane Scabior." He checked the name with Hermione who nodded. After everyone cooed over the babies, they were all chased out except Mikey. The new parents fell asleep, holding their little ones in their arms.

May 5th

The day had finally arrived. Both Slytherin and Gryffindor had been anticipating this day all year. The day they faced off on the pitch. Today would decide the fate of the much sought after Quidditch cup. Who would come out on top?

Hermione was nervous. In all the other games, she'd either cheer for Mikey or cheer for Harry. Today, though, she was torn between cheering her brother or her husband. Talking to Victoria helped her figure it out. "Listen, 'Mione, Harry and Ron want and intend to be Aurors, but Mikey is already an Auror. He didn't intend to be one. He and Alex, up until their sisters died, wanted to play Quidditch. Alex didn't write me very often during their year of training but every time he did, he wouldn't talk about that. He'd talk about a Quidditch game they had gone to or were allowed to participate in. Quidditch means more to them than being Aurors. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if they ask to be put on a reserve list of backups, just so they can go join a professional Quidditch team. They've always talked about playing for the Irish and that's who they cheered for at the World Quidditch Tournament."

Hermione felt better about cheering her husband on after that. They were all in the stands. The sun was shining brightly. At each end of the pitch, a door opened. Slytherin emerged from one end and Gryffindor strode from the other end. The two teams faced off in the center of the field. As they shot into the air, Draco could be heard good naturedly taunting Harry and Ron. Mikey rose and looked at he stands. Hermione waved. She had a double sling on and the babies were watching everything around them with wide eyes. Mikey flew close enough to where they recognized their daddy and started hopping and squirming with little baby giggles. He laughed and flew back to the center of the pitch.

The Quaffle had just been released and he was quick to grab it and make off with it. As always, Aidan was right behind him, protecting him from runaway Bludgers. He smirked as he flew straight toward the center hoop. Ron's eyes widened. It was the first time he had officially played against Mikey. He flew around and prepared to guard the center. Quick as a flash, Mikey rolled in midair and scored through the left hoop instead. Ron groaned. It was going to be tricky guarding against him, he had too many tricks up his sleeve.

Ginny managed to grab the Quaffle and darted off to the other end of the field. Unfortunately, Alex was waiting and blocked her goal. Harry could already see that if they intended to get any kind of score for Gryffindor, they would have to both block Scabior from getting the ball and keep McKeon from blocking their goals. He envied the team those two managed to join and pitied all the teams who played against them. They were quite a formidable duo.

Blaise took the Quaffle next and raced through the air. As Marcus blocked the Bludgers away from him, he shot the Quaffle at the center hoop. The Gryffindor stands booed as Ron just missed blocking it, allowing another score for Slytherin. Harry shook his head. Ron was letting the pressure get to him. He should have pretended to pour some liquid luck into his drink again.

As the game went on, Gryffindor tried their best to block both Scabior and McKeon but it was no use. The score quickly racked up. They managed to get a couple of goals in, whether it was because they caught McKeon off guard or he was just letting them get a score, Harry wasn't sure. But it quickly became apparent, if they were going to win, he needed to catch the Snitch as soon as he could.

The game was quickly intensified as the Snitch made its first appearance, bringing Harry and Draco into the mix. It became almost impossible to keep track of all the players as the Snitch led them on a merry chase right through the center of the field.

The players were shooting up, down and across the field so quickly, it was impossible to keep up with who was who, much less if they were scoring. Suddenly the field cleared. Harry and Draco were almost neck and neck at the Snitch. Scabior had the Quaffle and was going in for another score. Gryffindor had somehow fought their way to one hundred points. It was two hundred to one hundred, Slytherin's favor. If Harry caught the Snitch, Gryffindor would win by a narrow margin but Draco was right there at the Snitch as well. Everyone knew he'd been trying for years to best Harry on the Qudditch pitch. Was this finally going to be his year to beat Potter? As Scabior triumphantly scored yet again, the chase for the Snitch seemed to go in slow motion. There was a huge cheer as Draco's hand closed around the Snitch a split second before Harry! Slytherin won! More than that, they hadn't used a single illegal move or cheated once! They had actually played a clean game against Gryffindor!

The Slytherin's met in the center of the file cheering and hugging, slapping high fives. They pulled into a single file line and passed the Gryffindor's, also in a single file row. They exchanged congratulatory handshakes. It was the perfect end to the Slytherin's school year, both former and current. Everything after this would merely be anticlimactic in their eyes.

So now we're at the end of the story. I hope you've enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Be sure to watch 'Companion Pieces' as I will still be randomly writing little pieces about the other couples and posting them in that story. Next up, I hope to get back to updating my next story 'Chasing the Girl.' At this time, I would like to thank everyone who followed and favorited this story:

Bhalesfb, shortsingm0m, Alana Fox, mistycouch20141, Sweetpea2100, Msmalloryreads, bunnyobelenus, Harmony Rose Zabini-Malfoy, lexislater, Mummyof3muggles, GetTheeToBed, roon0, wintersong1954, nikkistew2, Deliahmarie, NymphadoraGranger95, FrostGrace, LauraB90, Youko's Little Girl, callerjn, Lyndsey88, decadenceofmysoul, CJRed, Khyharah, extra3x3, lucyria, marianna79, rainy5982, trochellwms, grolet, Li'l Obsessions, MarleneMcKinnonBlack, booknut95, PaleandBroodingsGirl, izyanizaki, marez00, 01saint, redbutterfly123.

Thank you all for hanging in there. I know toward the end my updates became few and far between but I finally managed to get the story back on track. As stated above and in other chapters, the other couples will be showing up in 'TWNSA: Companion Pieces.' If you have a couple you wanted to hear more about, drop me a line or a review. Most of those will be appearing as one shots. If it's a couple I'm very attached to, they will possibly get more than a one shot. Till the next story, my peeps! Love ya!


	35. Epilogue

Epilogue

A/N: So, I thought I was done with this story but then I went back and read the last chapter and decided that I couldn't leave it hanging like I had. Therefore, I decided to write an epilogue. Sorry it took so long for me to finish it. Hope you enjoyed this twisted little tale of mine!

Graduation, a wedding, an unexpected proposal and memories of passing time.

June 1st

Hermione Granger sat in the Great Hall. This was the day she'd waited so long for. Now that it was finally here, she couldn't help feeling a little sad now. She looked at all her friends, old and new. This would be the last day she'd sit here as a student.

"Hermione, can you believe it? We're finally graduating!" Ginny exclaimed. Parvati and Padma were giggling with Lavender. Luna was showing her newest drawings to Pansy, Victoria and Angelina. They were watching for their husbands to come in.

Pansy was especially excited. Today was very special for her. Not only was it her graduation but she was getting married right after the ceremony. Then she and Neville would be going on a three month trip through Europe, collecting rare plants for his Herbology Master course. Then they would be back in time to return to Hogwarts in the fall. Their internships would begin then.

The doors flew open as the eighth year boys came streaming in. The teachers watched as they carried in their precious cargo. Harry led the way with little James Sirius. Ron and Draco followed with little Rose and Scorpius. Seamus was behind them with little Jasmine and Faline. Marcus, Alex and Mikey brought up the rear with their children, Ambrose Flint, Melanie McKeon, and twins Sebastian and Mary Jane Scabior. Gregory and Luna had decided to hold off on children, in favor of traveling the world for a year or two. The children's ages ranged from the Scabior twins at four months to little Ambrose Flint, born only the week before. The boys had Neville blindfolded and led him down to the table. In accordance with the muggle tradition Hermione and Harry had told them about, he wasn't allowed to lay eyes on Pansy until after they graduated and were standing in front of the Ministry reverend conducting their marriage ceremony.

"Good morning, boys!" all the girls spoke in unison. The babies, upon hearing their mothers, immediately began whimpering for breakfast. The next few minutes consisted of babies changing hands and fathers sitting down for breakfast. Nobody spoke until they were all done eating. Little by little, the Great Hall went quiet. There was a moment to silence before Headmistress McGonagall stood up at the podium. Teachers and students alike gave her their full attention. She looked out at them, seeing those who had fought battles way too young, remembering those who were no longer there, loving every one of them. She was especially proud of the students at the square table which sat in the open space in front of all the long tables, her eighth year students. They looked up at her, these youngsters who should have been allowed to be youngsters a while longer but had instead been thrown into adulthood much too soon.

"At this time students, it is now time to award the House and Quidditch cup. Then all graduating students will proceed to your dormitories to prepare for graduation. All your families are here and ready for their grandbabies. All younger students, please return to your dormitories, finish your packing and then precede to the pitch. Ushers, be prepared to lead the graduating class to the pitch. After graduation, we will have the honor of seeing Miss Pansy Parkinson and Mr Neville Longbottom marry and exchange their vows here at our beloved school. First off, I would like to announce that we have two new members of the Quidditch league as Michael Scabior and Alex McKeon join our other Quidditch players with their acceptance by the Ballycastle Bats." She paused and smiled as wild applause broke out all over the Hall. "Now, due to their overwhelming victories this year, I am pleased to announce that Slytherin house has won the Quidditch cup for the first time in eight years." Loud cheers and catcalls arose from the chosen table as they celebrated a long awaited victory. "I would also like to add that, due to the sly cunning and ambition that they are known for, Slytherin house took down Dolores Umbridge and saved Hogwarts from being shut down once again, earning them the House cup as well." Here the eighth year boys all exchanged high fives all around. "With that announcement, we will now bring in the parents. All students with children, please hand them to your parents and we shall get this important day started."

The doors opened and parents came in, looking for their offspring. Jean and Todd spotted Hermione waving at them. They started up the center isle of the Great Hall. Vicky's parents followed them and the other parents fell in line. They spread out once they reached the table, taking charge of their grandchildren while their parents prepared to graduate! The Grangers and the Samms carried little Mary Jane, Sebastian and Melanie over to the head table to visit with their fathers' parents. They called Fenrir down to visit with the babies, too.

While the parents socialized, the students went to get ready. They put on their wedding attire under the graduation robes. Most of them were also in the wedding party. The boys left their robes hanging loosely until time to line up. The girls fussed with their hair and getting their caps just right. Finally they were ready. They went back to the Great Hall. The ushers stood outside the door and made sure they were standing in alphabetical order. Then the doors opened with a whoosh and the graduating class sweet in and took their seats.

McGonagall made a welcoming speech congratulating them on an exciting, eventful year. "Good morning, class. May I just say what an honor this day is. It took a while to get here. There were trials and tribulations for us all to face but we did it! Not only did this year bring an end to a madman who threatened our whole world, but it also brought with it personal tragedies and victories for our people. I know I don't only speak for myself when I say bravo to this year's graduates. You have faced a maniac, lost friends and relatives, gained new family members and stayed strong through it all! I would especially like to address Slytherin house on stepping up and giving it their all. They are a large part of the success of this school year. Now, may I present the valedictorian and salutatorian for this year, our very own Hermione Granger, Head Girl and Blaise Zabini, Head Boy!" The Head Boy and Girl were brought forward for their speeches.

Hermione took the stand first. "Welcome. I look out at the crowd and I see so many friends. Old and new, family members, people I never thought I would ever get to know. I see my babies and I'm so glad to have them. I'm glad I had the opportunity to finish my education and that my friends did as well. I see empty seats and missing faces of people I so wish were still here. I think about all the opportunities still to come. And I look for to my future and the rest of our lives. A year ago, I would never have thought I'd still have a future but today I stand before you and say don't give up! We all have a future and we all have the opportunity to move forward. Thank you."

She stepped back and Blaise stepped up to the podium. "Well, Hermione did the serious speech so I get to do the fun speech, whooo!" he smiled as all the boys whooped with him. "All I have to say is this: be happy, laugh every day, play pranks and just enjoy all that life has to offer you! Oh, and follow Hermione's advice as well. She knows what she's talking about! The brightest witch of our age, you know?!" Afterwards came the diploma and awards ceremony. Finally came the moment they had all waited for, moving their tassel to signify their newly graduated state. Headmistress McGonagall smiled lovingly at her students. "I now proclaim you to be graduates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Congratulations, graduates!" a loud cheer went up as they all took the caps and threw them in the air.

Afterwards, the wedding party went inside to get situated. They lined up and waited for their signal. Outside, Neville was at the altar, Harry by his side. As the wedding theme struck up, the bridesmaids and their escorts exited the school and entered the tent. At last it was time for the bride. Ginny, the matron of honor, came in first. She smiled brightly at Harry and Neville. Then Pansy swept in and Neville almost hit his knees. She'd never looked more beautiful than that very moment. She smiled shyly at him and proudly lifted her chin. Everyone was nearly in tears of joy by the end of their wedding.

At the reception, right before they left, Pansy turned her back and threw the bouquet over her shoulder, another muggle custom Hermione had told her about. To her great surprise, Millicent Bulstrode was the lucky girl who caught the bouquet. She giggled as the other girls teased her. Then, totally astounding everyone, Aidan Pucey knelt on the floor in front of her. "Milly, I was caught off guard by the Marriage Law and resentful because of it. I don't know why I was so stupid as to let you slip through my fingers before but now, I need to know. Millicent Bulstrode, will you marry me?" he held up a box to her. Millicent, with tears in her eyes, laughed and nodded, holding out her hand. Aidan placed the ring on her finger, stood up, swept her into his arms and whooped like a crazy man. "Hell, yeah, boys! She said yes, she said yes! I got my girl back! She said yes!"

After that excitement, the graduates spoke to their parents, all of whom were taking the children for the night so they could celebrate their graduation. Before they left, the students and faculty gathered for a group shot, one which Headmistress McGonagall placed on the wall herself and would stop and look at time and again over the passing of time. When the children of that first group showed up for their sorting, it was the picture which greeted them. They all enjoyed looking at it and picking their parents out of the group.


End file.
